Nigeria is grappling with a growing wave of vaccine hesitancy that threatens decades of progress in disease prevention.
While routine immunisation once enjoyed broad acceptance, misinformation, religious concerns, fear of side effects and declining trust in public institutions are now shaping health decisions in many households.
What began as scepticism around newer vaccines has spilt over to routine childhood immunisations, increasing the risk of preventable disease outbreaks.
Public health authorities have repeatedly warned that vaccine hesitancy contributes to missed or delayed immunisation.
In recent years, routine vaccination coverage has fluctuated across states, with some communities recording significant numbers of zero-dose or under-immunised children.
Experts have indicated that when vaccination coverage drops, it could reverse progress made against diseases like measles and polio, especially when the coverage area has many people.
This could happen at the national level when vaccination coverage is poor in one location.
To counter hesitancy, health workers and civil society groups are turning to community-based education rather than one-size-fits-all messaging.
Local clinics are prioritising one-on-one conversations with parents, explaining how vaccines work, addressing fears about side effects, and clarifying myths circulating on social media.
Pharmacist-led counselling, school health talks, and faith-sensitive outreach are also being used to bridge trust gaps.
Another solution gaining traction is early and continuous engagement, where caregivers receive accurate information before misinformation takes hold.
Health educators are also stressing transparency to explain possible mild symptoms and when to seek treatment so that people will know and not be forced.
Other grassroots strategies have been effective elsewhere on the continent too.
Community health volunteers, community leaders, and religious leaders have been engaged in immunization mobilization campaigns to help convey health messages from health practitioners to communities more credibly.
In other places, incorporating immunization messages into maternal and child health has increased community uptake because these conversations relate to family health rather than remaining isolated activities.
Despite these interventions, several challenges exist. Healthcare accessibility is still uneven, especially in rural and peri-urban areas, thus hindering follow-up educational sessions.
Strong beliefs, together with past negative encounters with the health sector, also negatively influence the speed with which trust can be regained.
Moreover, incorrect information travels faster than corrective messages on the internet, thus undermining educational messages locally. Resource constraints also limit the magnitude of the educational interventions.
In Nigeria, vaccine hesitancy is not simply about refusing vaccines; it is a crisis of trust, communication, and access.
While misinformation has emerged as a major driver of resistance, evidence suggests that ground-level strategies rooted in dialogue, transparency, and community trust are beginning to make a difference.
Sustaining progress will require continued education, collaboration across sectors, and a health system willing not only to speak, but also to listen.
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Summary not available at this time.
