By Williams ABAH
Following the recent breakthrough in fighting Malaria through effective vaccine, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has stressed the need for Nigeria to expand its immunization infrastructure to enable the country access and administer the malaria
vaccine.
The Representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, made the call in Abuja while reacting to the World Health Organisation’s recommendation for widespread administration of the malaria vaccine to children in sub-Saharan Africa.
He said it would take some time before the vaccines would be rolled out publicly. Hawkins urged the federal government to build the infrastructure to accommodate the vaccine.
According to him, WHO’s recommendation is very good news, stressing that it will take some time before the vaccines are available publicly. He also said the immunization structure in Nigeria is still evolving noting that it is a very robust structure.
In his words, “There is routine immunisation for children under five years, there are vaccines for polio, measles, pneumococcal disease, and the COVID-19 vaccines; the next one will be a vaccine for malaria”
Hawkin said that in the next two to three years, there is need to build the infrastructure to ensure that it can accommodate the malaria vaccine, flu vaccine, and other vaccines that are coming.
He added that the key issue will be the cost, the call chain, the distribution system. Hawkins said the cost of the vaccine will be the fundamental decider for a country with high malaria burden as Nigeria to push this forward.
He expressed confidence that the Nigerian government would agree to use the vaccine and in time, work on how it can accommodate it in the whole immunisation programme.
In his words, “All the diseases facing children are preventable. It is very important to look at the statistics; for instance, pneumonia is another problem which is where the pneumococcal disease is being introduced. UNICEF is working to reduce child mortality and disease burden on children in Nigeria; this will continue to evolve with time.”
