Sodiq Ojuroungbe Paediatricians say vaccine hesitancy, religious and cultural beliefs, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and insecurity are major obstacles militating against efforts to achieve universal immunisation. The experts in child care lamented that despite efforts to improve immunisation rates, the country still faces significant barriers to protecting children from preventable diseases. Speaking exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise, they said disrupted access to healthcare facilities due to insecurity affecting internally displaced populations further impedes routine immunisation efforts.
PUNCH Healthwise had earlier reported that the President of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, Professor Ekanem Ekure said Nigeria disproportionately accounts for 2.2 million of the 4.4 million zero-dose children in West Africa, the highest in the world.
According to her, only 23 per cent of children were fully immunised according to the Expanded Programme on Immunization schedule in 2021. While expressing concern that Nigeria has the highest under-five mortality rate in the world, the physician lamented that these children are dying from preventable diseases. Reacting, the child health experts told our correspondent that vaccine hesitancy, fueled by misinformation and misconceptions, is a growing concern in the country.
They explained that some parents strongly believe that vaccines contain harmful chemicals, while others have linked them to infertility and neurodevelopmental.