The Unfinished Fight Against Polio

Nigeria’s remarkable achievement in eliminating wild poliovirus in 2020 now hangs by a thread, threatened not by the virus itself but by something equally dangerous: vaccine hesitancy fueled by misinformation and deep-seated mistrust in communities that need protection the most.

The numbers from the recent  World Polio Day commemoration tell a story that should alarm every Nigerian. About 3,000 households in Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara States refused to vaccinate their children during the just-concluded immunisation exercise.

Let that sink in – thousands of children deliberately left vulnerable to a crippling disease that we’ve nearly beaten.

The theme of this year’s World Polio Day says it all: “End Polio: Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere.” Not most children. Not willing children. Every single one. Because polio doesn’t care about parental objections or cultural beliefs. It just needs one unvaccinated child to keep circulating.

It is instructive to note that the National Economic Council reported a 44 percent drop in polio cases nationwide, from 109 in 2024 to 61 in 2025. Kano and Katsina recorded stunning reductions of 89 percent and 88 percent respectively. But Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi reported new cases – eight, four, and two respectively. These aren’t random numbers on a spreadsheet. They’re children who might never walk again because we couldn’t get vaccines into their arms.

The threat today isn’t the wild poliovirus that once terrorised Nigerian families. It’s the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), a mutated strain that emerges when the weakened virus in oral polio vaccines spreads and changes in under-immunised communities. This is what happens when vaccination coverage drops.

The very tool we use to fight polio can backfire in communities where too few children are protected.

Think about the absurdity here. We have the vaccines. We have healthcare workers ready to administer them. We’ve built surveillance systems that can detect cases quickly. The infrastructure exists. Yet we’re watching children get infected because their parents won’t open the door when vaccinators knock.

The root causes are well-documented and deeply frustrating. Decades of mistrust haven’t disappeared just because government officials show up with good intentions. Cultural beliefs, disinformation campaigns and a general suspicion of vaccines continue to poison minds in some communities.

Open defecation contaminates water sources, creating perfect conditions for the virus to spread. Insecurity in northern states disrupts campaigns, leaving pockets of unvaccinated children vulnerable.

During the recent integrated campaign that reached 5.3 million children across three states, vaccinators encountered families who slammed doors in their faces. Not because vaccines weren’t available. Not because clinics were too far away. But because someone convinced these parents that vaccines were dangerous, foreign, or part of some conspiracy.

Here’s what makes this particularly maddening: polio only survives because we let it. There’s no cure for the disease once it strikes, but vaccination prevents it completely. Every child who gets vaccinated is protected for life. The math is simple and the science is settled. Yet we’re still having this conversation in 2025.

The government’s response has been reasonably comprehensive. The National Economic Council’s Ad-hoc Committee on Polio Eradication has met four times since June, coordinating between states and partners. The First Lady, Remi Tinubu launched a National Integrated Campaign combining polio vaccination with measles-rubella immunisation and malaria interventions. Healthcare workers – often local women who understand the communities they serve – are doing heroic work trying to reach every household. Settlements reached increased from 77 percent in August to 97 percent in September.

But comprehensive doesn’t mean sufficient. Not when 3,000 households are refusing vaccines. Not when new cases keep appearing in the same three states. The Committee’s urging of states to “promptly release funds to their respective health structures” suggests some states still aren’t treating this with the urgency it demands.

What Nigeria needs now isn’t more reports or committees. It needs a two-pronged assault on vaccine hesitancy that matches the intensity of the disease itself.

First, community engagement must go beyond polite requests. Traditional rulers, religious leaders, and respected community figures need to become vocal champions of vaccination.

Second, the war on misinformation must get ruthless. Journalists bear responsibility here. Balanced reporting doesn’t mean giving equal weight to medical facts and dangerous conspiracy theories.

When parents refuse vaccines based on lies, media organisations should call it what it is: lies. The consequences are too severe for diplomatic language.

Parents refusing to vaccinate their children aren’t exercising some noble right to choose. They’re gambling with their children’s ability to walk, breathe, and live normal lives. And when those children contract polio and spread it to others, that choice becomes everyone’s problem.

Nigeria’s journey toward total polio eradication has been long and expensive. The infrastructure, partnerships with WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and Rotary International, and political commitment at the highest levels represent years of investment. Walking away from the finish line because some communities won’t cooperate would be an unforgivable waste.