Jigawa State has successfully vaccinated 2.6 million children against polio as part of a nationwide immunisation campaign coordinated by the federal government in collaboration with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation.

The exercise, which deployed health workers on house-to-house visits across all 27 local government areas of the state, targeted children under the age of five.

Vaccination teams administered oral polio vaccine doses at both fixed posts and mobile outreach points, with mop-up activities carried out to ensure no child was left behind.

Officials have consistently stressed the urgency of maintaining high coverage in Jigawa, which has recorded cases of circulating Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus Type 2 — a strain that emerges when the live virus in the oral polio vaccine mutates and spreads in under-immunised communities. While wild poliovirus was declared eradicated in Nigeria in 2020, this variant continues to pose a threat in states with immunisation gaps.

UNICEF, which co-led the campaign’s community mobilisation efforts, had set a target of over 95 per cent coverage across the state’s wards and settlements. Health authorities and traditional rulers played an active role in encouraging parents and caregivers to bring their children forward for vaccination.

The Jigawa exercise forms part of a broader national campaign targeting tens of millions of children across more than 20 states, as Nigeria continues its push toward complete polio eradication.