TheCable

Vice President Kashim Shettima says the federal government will put structures in place to undo Nigeria’s poor immunisation rate.

Shettima spoke on Thursday at a parley with Aliko Dangote, chairman of the Dangote group, Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the variant polio virus has declined in Nigeria by 84 percent from 2021 to fewer than 200 cases in 2022.

He said Nigeria’s three-dose pentavalent vaccine coverage also improved from 33 percent in 2016 to 57 percent in 2021, commending the states that have achieved high-category immunization coverage.

“The federal government and our respective state governments are going to put in place, a transparent process and structure to undo the reality of the country as one with one of the highest proportions of non-immunized infants in the world, over the last decade,” he said.

“The federal government is committed to eradicating variant poliovirus by the end of the year, ensuring that every Nigerian child is covered in the routine immunisation campaigns.”

On the production of vaccines in the country, the vice president assured that “we are going to work together to ensure that these vaccines are made available even to zero-dose children, of which ours, at two million, are the highest in the world after India”.

Also speaking, Dangote said he and Gates have been partnering with the federal and state governments for several years, supporting the efforts in eradicating polio and improving routine immunisation, nutrition and primary healthcare in the country.

“We genuinely believe that the national economic council and the decisions that you will make over the next four years will determine whether Nigeria has sound economic growth, keep its citizens happy and achieves the sustainable development goals,” Dangote said.