Some women waiting to have their children vaccinated
Photo: UNICEF
About 67 million children have missed out on vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, with vaccination coverage levels decreasing in 112 countries, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The disclosure was made at a media briefing in Abuja by UNICEF Nigeria’s Chief of Health, Dr Eduardo Celades.
He was speaking at the Launch of the UNICEF State-of the-World-Children report, which he said was the 1st indebt document done since the advent of COVID-19.
Dr Celades named Nigeria as the 2nd country in the world with the highest number of unvaccinated children amounting to 2.2 million children.
Photo: Nancy Anikaezie
The UNICEF Nigeria Chief of Health, however, hinted that Nigeria progressed on vaccination coverage, especially during COVID-19 pandemic, although that was not enough.
He highlighted two major factors which, according to the report, led to the slow progress on vaccination, namely, weak health systems and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He called on the federal government to partner with UNICEF to carry out an indebt analysis aimed at identifying these children for vaccination, in order to cover the immunity gap.
Dr Celades assured the Nigerian authorities that UNICEF was willing and able to conduct a catch-up campaign to catch 1 million children in 700 days.
Reporting by Nancy Anikaezie; Editing by Oluwaseyi Ajibade and Tony Okerafor