DIPHTERIA: UNICEF urges urgent vaccinations, says outbreak has claimed 453 lives

UNICEF Nigeria has lamented that the outbreak of Diphtheria has so far resulted in over 11,500 suspected cases, more than 7,000 confirmed cases, and claimed the lives of 453 people, mostly children.

UNICEF is therefore sounding the alarm about the need for widespread vaccination to safeguard lives of Nigerians especially women and children who are most vulnerable in the midst of the most severe diphtheria outbreak in recent global history.

UNICEF in a release on Wednesday, stated that most cases were children aged between 4 to 15 years who had not received even a single dose of the vital vaccine, laying bare the urgency of the vaccination situation in Nigeria.

The body said it is providing urgent support to the Nigerian government in its efforts to combat the outbreak.

A crucial part of this support, it said, includes the procurement of vaccines to support the government’s response.

So far, on behalf of the government, UNICEF has deployed 9.3 million doses of diphtheria vaccines to affected states including Kano, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Kaduna and Jigawa. Of these, four million doses have been dispatched to Kano, the epicentre of the outbreak.

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It said nother four million doses of vaccines were being procured and would be handed over to government in the coming weeks.

“The devastating impact of this diphtheria outbreak is a grim reminder of the importance of vaccination. Nigeria is home to a staggering 2.2 million children who haven’t received even a single dose of vaccine – the second largest such cohort in the world.”

“We must collectively take urgent actions to drastically reduce this number. Every child deserves protection from preventable diseases. This is not negotiable”, said Dr. Rownak Khan, UNICEF Representative.

UNICEF Nigeria called on partners, stakeholders, and the international community to rally together to ensure that every child in Nigeria is reached with life-saving vaccines.

The children’s agency emphasized the importance of strengthening routine immunization, community engagement, and health systems to avoid similar outbreaks in the future.

By Yemi Kanji,

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