The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has indicated that Nigeria’s health infrastructure must be improved in order to ensure that the malaria vaccine is administered properly.
During an interview with NAN in Abuja on Friday, UNICEF representative Peter Hawkins revealed this.
Remember that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that children in Africa be given the RTS, S/AS01 (RTS, S) malaria vaccine on Wednesday.
The vaccine is effective in preventing “P. falciparum malaria in children living in moderate to high transmission regions,” according to WHO recommendations.
Despite the fact that the vaccine would not be available in Nigeria right away, Hawkins believes the federal government should devote sufficient resources to improving the vaccine’s infrastructure.
“WHO’s recommendation is very good news, but it will take some time before the vaccines are available publicly. The immunization structure in Nigeria is still evolving and it is a very robust structure,” he said.
“There is routine immunization for children under five years. There are vaccines for polio, measles, pneumococcal disease, and the COVID-19 vaccines; the next one will be a vaccine for malaria.
“In the next two to three years, we need to build the infrastructure further so that it can accommodate the malaria vaccine, flu vaccine, and other vaccines that are coming.
“The key issue will be the cost, the call chain, the distribution system. The cost of the vaccine will be the fundamental decider for a country with high malaria burden as Nigeria to push this forward.
“I think that Nigeria will agree to use the vaccine and in time, see how it can accommodate it in the whole immunisation programme.
“All the diseases facing children are preventable. It is very important to look at the statistics; for instance, pneumonia is another problem which is where the pneumococcal disease is being introduced.”
