FG is committed to eradicating Polio by the end of the year – Vice President, Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima expressed Nigeria’s dedication to eliminating the variant poliovirus by the year’s end. Addressing a gathering of governors at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, convened by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Shettima emphasized that Nigeria will persevere in its endeavors to completely eradicate polio by December.

Furthermore, he revealed that Nigeria has made notable progress in its three-dose pentavalent vaccine coverage, which has risen from 33% in 2016 to 57% in 2021.

He said; “The proposal is to provide timely domestic financing for the procurement of vaccines, which couldn’t have come sooner, to boost our industrial capacity to produce vaccines.

“The variant polio virus has declined in Nigeria by 84% from 2021, falling to fewer than 200 cases in 2022.

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

“We are going to work together to ensure that these vaccines are made available even to zero-dose children, of which ours, at 2 million, are the highest in the world after India.”

“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.