In a country where many of us grew up with the quiet comfort of clinic visits, baby immunisation cards, and yellow booklets tucked into family drawers, it’s hard to imagine that over two million Nigerian children have never received even one vaccine.
Not polio. Not measles. Not hepatitis. Nothing.
That’s not a typo or an exaggeration. According to UNICEF, Nigeria currently holds the highest number of “zero-dose” children in the world—children under the age of one who haven’t received a single shot from the routine immunisation schedule.
Zero-dose means zero protection
These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. These are real babies—born into remote villages, displacement camps, urban slums, and underserved communities. Children who, through no fault of their own, are vulnerable to diseases that science already knows how to prevent.
Diseases like:
- Measles, which still kills.
- Polio, which still cripples.
- Hepatitis, yellow fever, diphtheria—the list goes on.
And when these children fall sick, they’re not just fighting viruses. They’re battling systems that failed them—systems weakened by poverty, conflict, climate change, poor infrastructure, misinformation, and healthcare that doesn’t reach far enough or fast enough.
But this isn’t just their problem. It’s all of ours.
You might think: “Well, my kids are vaccinated. We’re covered.” But outbreaks don’t carry passports. Viruses don’t ask if you live in Lekki, Kano, or the IDP camp in Borno. Every unvaccinated child becomes a potential hotspot for disease spread, especially in a world where mobility, trade, and climate change are reshaping how illnesses move. Public health works like herd protection. If we don’t lift the most vulnerable, the whole structure starts to crack.
Why are so many Nigerian kids still missing out?
UNICEF’s recent report points to several painful realities:
- Many children live in hard-to-reach areas—cut off by geography, insecurity, or lack of infrastructure.
- Others reside in conflict zones where health workers can’t safely access.
- Some are in urban slums with overstretched facilities and no consistent health outreach.
- A growing number are victims of mistrust, misinformation, and apathy, worsened by social media myths and fragmented community engagement.
As of 2023, 2.1 million Nigerian children under one year old had not received a single dose of any routine vaccine. That’s 24% of the entire under-one population in the country.
What’s being done—and what still needs to happen
To their credit, UNICEF and local health agencies aren’t standing still. In 2024, Yobe State vaccinated over 20,000 previously unvaccinated children. In Borno, 145,000 children were reached. The “Big Catch-Up” campaigns have covered thousands more across the northeast. And community volunteers have driven non-compliance rates below 1% in many areas.
But it’s still a steep mountain. Vaccination can’t be a privilege. It must be a right. And that requires:
- Policy commitment beyond lip service.
- Consistent funding that doesn’t dry up between press briefings.
- Reliable data systems, cold chain logistics, and trained personnel in the field.
- And most importantly, community-level trust and engagement that doesn’t alienate the very people we aim to serve.
So what can you do?
Start by caring. Then go further:
- If you’re a parent, check your child’s vaccination record. Ask questions. Get that follow-up dose.
- If you’re a storyteller, journalist, or teacher—amplify the truth and counter the myths.
- If you’re a policymaker, advocate for better systems and fairer access.
- If you’re a neighbour, encourage another parent to show up at the next health outreach.
Vaccines don’t just protect individuals—they shield entire communities. One missed child is one too many. Two million? That’s a crisis with a heartbeat.
Final word
We can’t keep celebrating survival in some parts of Nigeria while silently ignoring preventable deaths in others. Every child deserves a fair shot—literally. A vaccine in one arm protects us all. Let’s make sure no child is left behind again.
