93% of children affected by diphtheria outbreaks not fully vaccinated – Official

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says about 93 per cent of children affected by recent diphtheria outbreaks in Nigeria had not received the full recommended vaccine doses.

The agency’s Executive Director, Muyi Aina, disclosed this on Thursday during its quarterly media briefing in Abuja.

Mr Aina said an analysis of cases recorded during the outbreaks showed that most affected children were either unvaccinated or had received fewer than the three recommended doses.

“We looked at data from all the cases that we have had, and in the different outbreaks that are happening, over 90 per cent, I think 93 per cent of the children had not received the full complement of vaccines that they should receive,” he said.

He said some affected children had either received no vaccine or only one of the three recommended doses.

Mr Aina attributed the situation partly to misinformation and false rumours affecting vaccine uptake in some communities.

“The vaccines are available. We have advocated, and we have interventions to get communities to access these vaccines,” he said.

“But when people allow misinformation and false rumours to influence their behaviour, they don’t access the vaccines.”

Mr Aina said reducing vaccine-preventable diseases remained a critical priority of the agency’s immunisation programme.

Other vaccination programmes

Mr Aina said more than 18.3 million girls had received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, and efforts are ongoing to expand coverage among eligible girls.

“For the human papillomavirus vaccine, over 18.3 million of our girls have now been vaccinated,” he said.

He added that the measles-rubella vaccine had reached more than 102 million children aged nine months to 14 years.

According to him, 882,000 children in Kebbi, Bayelsa, Ondo and Bauchi states had received at least the first dose of the malaria vaccine.

Mr Aina said the agency was also recording gradual improvement in routine immunisation coverage and reducing the number of zero-dose children through targeted interventions.

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“We are reducing our number of zero-dose children through several interventions, including the identification, enumeration and vaccination of children, and through targeted interventions to reach underserved communities,” he said.

He urged caregivers, community leaders and teachers to support vaccination efforts to protect children against preventable diseases.

“I think this should be a wake-up call for all of us who are caregivers, for those of us that are community leaders and teachers, that we need to again focus on making sure that we get all of the vaccines that we need,” Mr Aina said.

He added that efforts are underway to expand the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to more facilities, increasing coverage from 8,300 to 15,000.

(NAN)