The United Nations Children’s Education Fund has provided Bauchi State with more than 2.5 million doses of oral polio vaccines to bolster immunization efforts for children across the state.
Chief of UNICEF’s Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, disclosed this on Thursday during a visit to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, where the vaccines are securely stored.
According to Rafique, the vaccination campaign is scheduled to run from April 24 to April 29, targeting children under five years old.
She emphasized the need for a widespread awareness campaign to ensure high participation.
Highlighting the urgency of the initiative, Rafique revealed that Bauchi State has a significant number of zero-dose children—those who have never received any form of vaccination.
“Bauchi State is one of the very important states where we have 13 out of 20 local governments that have zero-dose children,” she said.
“Zero-dose children are those children who have never received any dose of vaccines, and that implies that almost 556,000 children have never received any vaccine.
“We are starting with these local government areas on April 24, and I request you to give this message to all communities in the state.
“We are targeting every child under five in this campaign, but in those 556,000 children who are zero dose, we are hoping that they will not be zero dose anymore.”
Rafique urged local communities to actively participate in the campaign by bringing their children to vaccination centers or engaging with mobile vaccination teams.
She stressed the importance of the initiative for the well-being of children and future generations.
Supporting the campaign, UNICEF has also provided essential materials, including pen markers, to track vaccinated children.
“We are going to ensure that all the local government areas and teams have adequate vaccines during the implementation exercise,” said Mr. Patrick Akor, Health Officer at UNICEF’s Bauchi Field Office.
A representative of the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Board, Bappah Jika, confirmed the receipt of the vaccines and expressed gratitude to UNICEF for its continued support in safeguarding children’s health.
