The Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI) said no fewer than 800,000 unvaccinated children had died in Nigeria in the last five years.

Dr Seth Berkley, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAVI, made this known during a stakeholder meeting in Suleja, Niger.

GAVI is a public-private global health partnership committed to increasing access to immunization through provision of vaccines across the globe.

Berkley who said a recent survey had revealed that Nigeria had only 30 per cent coverage of immunization added that the figure differed from what some health workers had always presented.

The CEO said that children unnecessarily died because they were not vaccinated, pointing out that his organization was working hard to strengthen routine immunization in the country.

He said that lack of children’s access to routine vaccination caused outbreak of diseases such as monkey-pox, Lassa fever, measles, meningitis and yellow fever.

According to him, government and other stakeholders must work hand-in-hand to accelerate and strengthen routine immunization.

Berkley noted that traditional rulers could help in ensuring children get access to vaccination because they are close to the people.

The chief executive officer of GAVI decried non-usage of vaccine being provided by his organization for immunization in some quarters. “If we supply vaccines and people do not go to the health centers to take them, the essence of providing such will be defeated.” he said.

Dr Faisal Shuaibthe, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said it was imperative for the country to do the right thing and ensure all her children were immunized.

Shuaib said that how well leaders provided health care to their people determined the future of the children in such communities.

He tasked local governments and traditional rulers to supervise and monitor the activities of primary health care facilities in their areas.

The executive director disclosed that his agency had designed a template to monitor and evaluate immunization quarterly to ensure improvement on current situation.

He said the National Emergency Routine Immunization Centre had been established to strengthen routine vaccination in the country.

Reacting, the Emir of Suleja, Muhammad-Awwal Ibrahim, pledged commitment of traditional rulers in the state to tackle the challenges facing vaccination of children.

Ibrahim said that immunization must be taken seriously to prevent children from dying unnecessarily. “We, the traditional rulers have the passion to do what is expected of us to tackle our health challenges” he said.