Nigeria has received an initial shipment of 846,000 doses of the R21 malaria vaccine from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, News About Nigeria reports.
At the official launch event on Thursday, Coordinating Minister of Health Ali Pate said that the vaccine will protect children from the disease, describing it as both a “miracle” and a valuable opportunity for better health.
Pate noted that the vaccines would first be distributed to regions with the highest malaria burden, specifically Kebbi and Bayelsa states, and urged parents to ensure their children are immunised.
He also addressed misinformation, encouraging the public to disregard sources that may discourage vaccination efforts.
“Every child that has a full course of the vaccine has an opportunity to live a life of health.
“A child that is immunised against the disease has an opportunity to live a life free of that disease. So it’s a miracle, but it’s also a source of opportunity.
“The vaccines are delivered to populations for free. I want to urge all well-meaning Nigerians to take advantage of the limited availability and the fact that it’s a valuable commodity and bring their wards where they have the opportunity, to make sure they are protected with these vaccines.
“And to discount misinformation for uninformed people who sometimes have their own agendas or may not understand what they’re talking about.”
Muyi Aina, Director General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said the agency plans to set up an enforcement team to oversee vaccine administration and said the public would soon be informed of the vaccination dates and locations.
Aina confirmed that an additional 140,000 doses are expected in the coming months, with the goal of making a total of one million doses available in the first phase.
“The vaccine is not excessively available globally, but Nigeria remains a very important country. So thank you to our partners — Gavi, WHO, UNICEF, and a lot of the others.
“We have a high burden of malaria in Nigeria, and we all know that. We have made some progress but continue to have up to 50%, and 52% prevalence in states. That’s not acceptable.
“We have been deploying a slew of interventions which have shown some progress.
“But the vaccine is a very important addition that we are hoping to deploy very strategically as a country. The experts have advised that depending on the time that we have enough to go around, we prioritise the highest priority locations.
“And that is why we are taking a phased approach, starting from Kebbi and Bayelsa states,” Aina said.
