From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for collective action from citizens and leaders to eliminate zero-dose immunisation against poliovirus and other preventable diseases in Borno and Yobe states.
The appeal coincided with the conclusion of a week-long polio vaccination campaign, which ran from April 26 to May 2, 2025, aimed at boosting immunisation and halting polio spread in the region.
UNICEF Health Officer Bashir Elegbede confirmed to The Sun on Sunday, May 4, 2025, that the National Immunisation Plus campaign will continue following the zero-dose initiative. At a sensitisation event in Damaturu, Yobe’s capital, he explained that zero-dose children are those who have never received any vaccine through national routine immunisation schedules.
Elegbede noted that Borno and Yobe account for a significant portion of Nigeria’s 2.1 million unvaccinated children, prompting the targeted campaign. “We call on everyone to know vaccines, learn about vaccines, pass the knowledge and dispel misinformation, engage with your network to improve uptake of vaccines in all age groups,” he urged.
Yobe State Commissioner for Health Dr Muhammad Gana described World Immunisation Week as a critical time to raise awareness about immunisation’s cost-effective role in preventing diseases. He reported outbreaks of meningitis, cholera, and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus types 2 and 3 (cVDPV2, cVDPV3) in one Yobe local government area.
“The governor of Yobe State has directed that we should renew our commitment and strategy to ensure that no child is left without being immunised,” Gana said at a media sensitisation event organised by UNICEF and the Federal Ministry of Information’s Child Rights Unit.
Public health experts explain that cVDPV2 arises when the weakened virus in oral polio vaccines mutates and spreads in under-immunised communities, posing a significant risk.