The National Primary Health care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says it will conduct a mass vaccination of children in all parts of the country, as part of celebrations to mark the 2019 African Vaccination Week.
The Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, made this known at a news conference in commemoration of 2019 Africa Vaccination Week on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, the African Region has set out April 22 to 28 as the African Vaccination Week.
He said the week was set aside to strengthen immunization services and systems in order to draw the attention of all critical stakeholders to the unlimited opportunities vaccines offer humanity in saving lives especially the vulnerable children.
He, therefore, appealed to all parents, guardians and caregivers to make their wards available for the exercise.
Shuaib added that immunization remains the cheapest and yet the most effective lifesaving health intervention to all children in human history.
According to him, there has been no report of vaccine shortage anywhere in Nigeria, in the past years, the vaccines are provided free to all children in the country.
“We are assuring all Nigerians that all the vaccines in the National Immunization schedule are safe and endorsed by the World Health Organization and the National Agency for Foods, Drugs and Administration Control.”
Shuaib said in spite of impressive and commendable progress on immunization coverage, a lot needs to be done to meet the target for elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, rubella, maternal and neonatal tetanus and diphtheria.
