The United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF says Nigeria is facing a critical moment of choice, wherein children can either be protected from a host of preventable diseases or face an uncertain future and possibly dire health prospects.
A statement by UNICEF’s Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins restates the warning by the World Health Organization, WHO about the alarming decline in global vaccine coverage due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has disrupted the delivery and uptake of immunisation services around the world.
The statement reads in parts, “This is a critical moment for Nigeria’s children. We can either seize it – or condemn millions of children to preventable illness or even death”.
UNICEF said the global disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic are threatening to reverse hard-won progress in immunisation rates worldwide, according to new data by WHO and UNICEF.
The statement added that at stake is critical progress made over the last decades in reaching more children and adolescents with a wider range of vaccines, including in Nigeria. However, despite this progress, Nigeria still contributes 30 percent of the global number of unimmunised children between the ages of 0 and 5.
It disclosed that the global vaccination coverage rate with the third dose of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) has plateaued at 85 per cent since 2010.
The UN added that in Nigeria, numbers show that routine immunisations in the first 6 months of 2020 have dropped compared to the same period in 2019 – indicating a deterioration in important routine vaccination coverage, due to Covid-19.
The statement further reads that “…No Nigerian child should die from a preventable disease that can be easily prevented with an affordable vaccine that is readily available within our borders. Let us not let Covid-19 distract us from the work we still need to do to ensure that EVERY Nigerian child receives full routine immunisation.”
UNICEF noted that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, at least 30 measles vaccination campaigns around the world were or are at risk of being cancelled, which could result in further outbreaks in 2020 and beyond.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
