Two Million Nigerian Children Unvaccinated Against Polio – UNICEF
...Advocates Routine Immunisation
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed that two million children remain unimmunised against polio in Nigeria, adding that one unvaccinated child is a risk to all.
UNICEF Lagos Field Office Chief, Celine Lafoucriere who made this known during an event to mark the World Immunisation and Polio Week 2025 in Lagos on Tuesday said routine immunisation is the best bet to fight the disease.
Her words: “This World Immunization Week and our #Walk for Polio reminds us how far we’ve come but also how far remains to go to ensure Nigerian children are fully immunized. To date 2 million Nigerian children remain zero-dose or unimmunized!
“Since 1974, vaccines have saved over 150 million lives! That represents more than 3 million lives per year or 6 lives every minute in the last 5 decades. Vaccines are extremely powerful!
“Thanks to global efforts, the world has seen a 99.9% reduction in polio cases since 1988. Before the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, 1,000 children were paralyzed every single day”.
Lafoucriere, who highlighted that oral polio vaccine has helped prevent 24 million cases of paralysis, however said the resurgence of polio has been detected in Lagos.
According to her, low immunisation coverage, poor sanitation, and malnutrition are keeping the door open for polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.
“We already have the tools — the oral polio vaccine is safe, effective, and it works. But do we have the knowledge and the coverage? Despite the fact that vaccines are powerful proven life saviors, some parts of the population remain misinformed believing in harmful rumors.
Lafoucriere explained that despite the fact that vaccines are increasingly available, some parts of the population only have access to vaccines during campaigns.
“This is not sustainable! Routine immunization must become the norm for every child born in Lagos. This is the only way to ensure a calendar of vaccination can be established for every child, ensuring that vaccination is indeed powerful!
“For this to happen, we need action. UNICEF continues to stand with Lagos state and the Nigerian People to deliver vaccines to the hardest-to-reach children through vaccination campaigns, support health workers with training and resources, and build trust in every community so that no child is left behind. But routine immunization represents the only hope for the future!”, she added.
UNICEF called for stronger routine immunisation systems to be made possible through a renewed political commitment to ensure greater health education is available to the whole population.
This, it said will make sure no parent in Nigeria take the risk of leaving their child at risk of dying from preventable diseases.
