- FG yet to release ₦231bn allocated for Nigeria’s 2025 immunisation budget.
- Only 36 million children reached out of 106 million national target.
- VNDC warns of looming vaccine shortage, urges fenced funding structure.
- WHO calls for climate-resilient health systems and sustainable financing.
Just some weeks to the end of 2025, the Vaccine Network for Disease Control (VNDC) has sounded an alarm over the Federal Government’s failure to release the ₦231 billion immunisation fund. The delay, according to the network, threatens to cause a major vaccine shortage and undo years of progress in Nigeria’s child health and disease prevention efforts.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Vaccine Network for Disease Control (VNDC), Chika Offor, disclosed that although the Federal Government approved ₦231 billion for immunisation in 2025, no disbursement has been made. She revealed that only 25 per cent of the 2024 allocation was released, leaving millions of children at risk of missing routine vaccines.
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Offor raised the concern during the Pre-Summit on the Sixth Legislative Summit on Health and the Legislative Roundtable on Climate, Environment, and Sustainable Health, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMOH), and the Nigerian Environmental Summit Group (NESUG).
She warned that Nigeria’s immunisation programme, critical to protecting children from preventable diseases was being neglected. “Our target is to reach 106 million children, but only 36 million have been covered so far,” she said. “If funds are not released soon, vaccine shortages will hit the country, and the health of millions of Nigerian children will be at stake.”
Offor urged the Federal Government to urgently release the allocated funds for vaccine procurement and called for a “predictable and protected” funding structure. She proposed that immunisation and essential health commodities be placed under first-line charge, similar to the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), which receives one per cent of consolidated revenue.
“We can add another one per cent, making it two per cent, and dedicate that to vaccine and health commodities,” she said. “But without timely funding, even the best immunisation plan will fail.”
She also called for fenced, legally backed financing mechanisms to ensure transparency, accountability, and sustainability in Nigeria’s immunisation efforts.
Speaking at the same event, Dr Pavel Ursu, the WHO Representative in Nigeria, emphasised the need for climate-resilient health systems and sustainable financing models to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Represented by Dr Alexander Chimbaru, Ursu said climate change was already driving public health crises through floods, heatwaves, and disease outbreaks.
“The fingerprints of climate change are visible in outbreaks of cholera, meningitis, malaria, and malnutrition,” he noted, citing findings from the 2024 National Climate Health Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment conducted by WHO, FMOH, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
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The assessment warned that up to 21 per cent of Nigeria’s total disease burden could be linked to climate change if urgent adaptation measures were not taken.
Ursu reaffirmed WHO’s support for Nigeria in building climate-smart and energy-efficient health systems. He said Nigeria joined over 120 countries at COP28 in pledging to integrate health resilience into national climate policies.
He also called for the creation of climate-health trust funds, green bonds, and public-private partnerships (PPPs) to expand health financing beyond traditional budgets. “The health sector cannot work in isolation,” he stressed. “We need stronger collaboration between the ministries of energy, environment, and finance to build a healthier, climate-resilient Nigeria.”
