Gavi to prioritise Nigeria in new malaria vaccine rollout – FG
The Federal Government has announced that Gavi, the vaccine alliance, will prioritize Nigeria in the rollout of a new malaria vaccine in the coming months.
This announcement was made by the Minister of Health, Prof Ali Pate, during the visit of Gavi’s CEO to the palace of Esu Karu and New Karu Primary Healthcare Centre in Nasarawa State.
Addressing the gathering, Prof Ali Pate stated, “I was in Kano yesterday, and I saw that half of the children in the hospital had malaria. Gavi has just informed us that they will prioritize Nigeria in the rollout of the new malaria vaccine.” He further emphasized that the vaccine will be an additional tool in the fight against malaria and not a replacement for malaria treatment.
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Expressing the federal government’s commitment to work with the state government and community leaders, the minister said though a lot of progress has been made in immunisation, many children are still not immunised, thus the need to do more to ensure that every child is reached.
“But there are still many children that we missed, and we need to do more to ensure that we reduce those who are completely missing the zero children and as a government, the federal government is committed to work with the state government and the community leaders to ensure that every Nigerian child ultimately gets the benefit of this life saving tools of vaccines, as well as treatment of other diseases.”
In response to the visit, His Royal Highness, Pharm Luka Panya, the Esu Karu, expressed delight and emphasized the need for true allies and partners, both international and local, to address the health challenges faced by the country.
