UNICEF, Gombe Intensify Polio Fight as 900,000 Children Targeted in Vaccination Drive

By Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

The ongoing Immunisation Plus Days campaign in Gombe State has gathered momentum, with UNICEF and state health officials expressing optimism that the exercise will record wider coverage and bring the state closer to a polio-free status.

Speaking with journalists shortly after an evening review meeting in Gombe, the Chief of UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, described the 2026 campaign as critical to Nigeria’s final push to eradicate polio.

She said Gombe State had shown strong commitment to the campaign, noting that the state government and its health team were working intensively to ensure that no eligible child was left behind.

According to her, the five-day exercise began with flag-off activities at both the state and local government levels, followed by outreach to communities considered hard-to-reach and underserved.

“This campaign is very important because Nigeria must completely get rid of polio. Gombe is doing its best and trying very hard to reach that status,” she said.

Dr. Rafique commended Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya and the state health leadership for what she described as unwavering commitment, adding that the daily review meetings were helping partners to track progress and quickly address challenges.

She said the level of community involvement, social mobilisation, and training of health personnel had been encouraging, with traditional rulers and emirs taking visible ownership of the campaign.

According to her, many of the flag-off ceremonies were held in palaces of traditional rulers, a development she said had strengthened trust and local participation.

“Traditional leaders are not just supporting this campaign, they are owning it and leading it alongside the government and partners,” she added.

Dr. Rafique disclosed that UNICEF had provided more than 965,000 doses of oral polio vaccine to support the exercise in Gombe, while the state had put in place the necessary cold chain and distribution system to preserve the vaccines and move them to vaccination teams across the local government areas.

She said the campaign was targeting about 900,000 children, while also paying special attention to more than 50,000 zero-dose children — children who have never received routine immunisation.

She stressed that reaching such children remained one of the most important goals of the campaign.

“Zero-dose children are a very important concern for all of us. We need to reach every one of them, and that is why UNICEF, WHO and the government are working together very closely,” she said.

On reports of discrepancies observed by monitors in the field between expected standards and what some vaccinators were doing, Dr. Rafique said such observations were not unusual in large public health campaigns.

She explained that UNICEF and its partners deliberately set very high standards for quality and accountability, which often meant that supervisors were expected to identify gaps and correct them quickly.

“Gombe is doing a very good job, but there is always room for improvement. That is why we go to the field, review what is happening and discuss how to improve coverage and quality,” she said.

Although she declined to give a final figure for children vaccinated so far, she said early reports showed that over 60 per cent of daily targets were being met, while cautioning that final figures would only become clearer after all delayed field data had been collated.

She noted that she had personally visited communities in Funakaye, Dukku and Akko during the campaign and observed strong commitment from frontline workers and local leaders.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Abdulrahaman Shu’aibu, said the state had carried out extensive advocacy and mobilisation ahead of the campaign.

He said the sensitisation effort covered the state, local government and ward levels, and involved traditional rulers, religious leaders, women groups and youth organisations.

According to him, the strategy was designed to reduce vaccine rejection and improve acceptance across communities.

He, however, admitted that despite the widespread engagement, some pockets of resistance still existed in parts of the state.

Dr. Shu’aibu said health authorities would continue to rely on trusted community voices to overcome such resistance and reassure parents about the safety and importance of vaccination.

“It is not only in Gombe; across the country, there are still some pockets of non-compliance. What we do is continue to sensitise people and work with community and religious leaders who have the trust of the people,” he said.

He added that years of sustained advocacy had already begun to yield results, with routine immunisation coverage improving across several antigens in the state.

On the composition of vaccination teams, the executive secretary explained that each team consisted of three personnel selected from within their local communities to ensure familiarity, trust and easier access to households.

He said the team members were trained before deployment and also received daily refresher sessions at take-off points to improve their performance throughout the exercise.

“Sometimes there are training gaps, but what we do is provide daily refresher training to keep them updated and improve their delivery in the field,” he said.

Dr. Shu’aibu expressed confidence that the 2026 campaign would surpass previous performance levels, saying health officials were targeting more than 95 per cent coverage by the end of the exercise.

He also appealed to parents and caregivers to present all eligible children between 0 and 59 months for vaccination, insisting that the oral polio vaccine was safe, effective and free of charge.

He said some of the resistance encountered in communities was being addressed through direct engagement with religious leaders, councillors and other respected local figures invited to participate in evening review meetings.

According to him, these influencers often help break down mistrust and encourage parents to cooperate with health workers.

At Dawaki Ajiya, one of the communities visited during the exercise, a mother of five, Jamila Jibrin Chiroma, said she had allowed all her children to be vaccinated because she believed immunisation was important for their health and protection against disease.

Her decision reflects the growing acceptance that health officials say is necessary if Gombe is to eliminate polio transmission and protect every child from preventable illness.

The campaign continues across the state with health teams moving from house to house, while supervisors and partners monitor compliance, resolve challenges and intensify efforts in settlements yet to be fully covered.