Vaccinate your children against polio, Sokoto, UNICEF urge parents

File photo: Polio Vaccine

The Sokoto State Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund have stepped up mobilisation ahead of a polio vaccination campaign scheduled for November 7 to 11, urging parents and caregivers to ensure that all children below five years are immunised.

The exercise is expected to cover children in hard-to-reach communities, internally displaced households, nomadic settlements and areas affected by insecurity.

The Head of UNICEF Sokoto Field Office, Michael Juma, made the appeal on Friday during a media roundtable organised ahead of the campaign.

He urged journalists to help address misconceptions about vaccination and encourage public participation, noting that the media played an important role in shaping public opinion.

“The role of journalism or journalists is very important in capturing some of the happenings during the vaccination, but also influencing public opinion in terms of bringing children forward for vaccination,” he said.

Juma disclosed that UNICEF and its partners had organised several activities in Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states to encourage community participation in the polio eradication campaign.

He said activities marking the 2026 World Polio Day on October 24 included football matches involving young people and journalists, as well as para-soccer competitions featuring polio survivors.

According to him, the activities were intended to promote inclusion, resilience and community involvement in efforts to eliminate the disease.

He called on journalists to focus on evidence-based reporting and highlight the need to reach zero-dose children, those missed during previous campaigns and children in remote settlements.

Juma also emphasised that supplementary polio vaccination exercises should complement routine immunisation to protect children against other vaccine-preventable diseases.

He said, “We are looking forward to seeing a Sokoto State where parents would open their doors, vaccination teams would reach the last household and every single child would be vaccinated by the end of this campaign.”

Also speaking, UNICEF’s Polio Coordinator in Nigeria, Asnakew Tsega, expressed concern over the continued circulation of poliovirus in the country.

He disclosed that between 68 and 69 children had suffered paralysis from two circulating poliovirus strains in 2026.

He attributed between 46 and 47 cases to one strain and another 21 cases to the second strain.

Tsega warned that even a single confirmed case of polio was considered an outbreak because of the disease’s highly infectious nature and its potentially devastating effects on children.

“Polio is a paralytic disease. It is very infectious, it paralyses children and affects everyone. But it is a disease with a solution because we can prevent it through vaccination,” he said.

He explained that the reduction in reported cases of polio-related paralysis resulted largely from sustained immunisation campaigns but warned that continued transmission made repeated vaccination necessary.

The UNICEF official urged parents not to reject additional vaccine doses for children who had been immunised previously, stressing that every child below five years remained eligible for the November exercise.

“The solution is to vaccinate the children repeatedly because unless all the children have been reached repeatedly with the vaccines, the virus is going to continue and our children will be paralysed,” he said.

He added that vaccination teams would visit homes and extend the exercise to markets, streets, schools and other public locations to reach eligible children.

Tsega also said the vaccines would be administered free of charge, despite the significant financial resources required from governments and development partners to procure them.

On efforts to reach children in areas affected by insecurity and displacement, Juma said the campaign had been structured to accommodate mobile populations, including families moving from rural communities to urban centres in search of safety.

He explained that pre-campaign mapping would help teams locate nomadic and displaced households and understand their movement patterns.

He added that daily reviews of vaccination data would help identify settlements where children had been missed and enable teams to return for further immunisation.

A vaccination official said special arrangements had also been made to reach communities affected by insecurity and difficult terrain, particularly in Isa, Gudu and Illela Local Government Areas.

The official disclosed that retired health workers and local health personnel would support vaccination teams, while traditional rulers, religious leaders, community gatekeepers and selected vigilante groups would assist in mobilising residents.

He added that security agencies were part of the state and local government task forces coordinating the exercise.

Although he acknowledged that insecurity could hinder access to some communities, he expressed confidence that daily assessments of vaccination data would help officials adjust their plans and reach missed settlements.

The officials said the success of the campaign would depend on cooperation among the state government, UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, journalists, community leaders and other development partners.

Other organisations supporting the eradication programme include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Government, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Rotary International, The Rotary Foundation, Solina Centre for International Development and Research, the African Field Epidemiology Network, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Dangote Foundation.

They urged parents and caregivers to cooperate with vaccination teams, emphasising that all children below five years should receive the vaccine, regardless of previous doses, location or circumstances.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that can invade the nervous system and cause irreversible paralysis, particularly in children.

Vaccination remains the most effective means of preventing the disease, while repeated immunisation campaigns help close immunity gaps and protect children who may have missed earlier doses.

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