The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, says the Federal Government has administered more than 25 million doses of measles vaccine and 22 million yellow fever vaccinations nationwide.
Pate disclosed this on Sunday in a broadcast via his official X handle, @muhammadpate, highlighting significant gains in immunization coverage and preventive healthcare delivery under the current administration.
“Under this administration, over 25 million measles doses and 22 million yellow fever vaccinations have been administered, alongside Africa’s first Mpox vaccine rollout,” he said.
Beyond measles and yellow fever, Pate said five million children had received the pentavalent vaccine, while more than 10 million Nigerians were vaccinated with the tetanus-diphtheria vaccine through the nationwide diphtheria response.
He added that over one million vaccine doses from the Gavi-funded global stockpile were deployed to support meningitis outbreak control in northern parts of the country.
The minister said Nigeria had also taken a historic step in malaria control with the introduction of its first-ever malaria vaccine.
“As the country bearing the world’s highest malaria burden, accounting for about 39.3 per cent of malaria-related deaths among children under five, the deployment of the R21 Matrix-M vaccine marks a major public health milestone,” he said.
Pate explained that the malaria vaccine rollout began in Bayelsa and Kebbi states, with Kebbi alone targeting 179,542 children aged five to 15 months.
He said Nigeria received one million doses of the malaria vaccine, comprising 846,200 doses from Gavi and 153,800 doses financed by the Federal Government, with plans for further scale-up.
According to the minister, Nigeria is increasingly being defined not only by its disease burden but also by leadership in domestic resource mobilization and global disease control efforts.
He said that in 2025, the Federal Government committed 54 million dollars in domestic resources to the global fight against tuberculosis and emerged as Africa’s largest contributor to the Global Fund, as announced at the most recent G20 meeting in Johannesburg.
“These gains are substantive,” Pate said.
He noted that sustained increases in health sector financing at all levels of government—covering primary healthcare infrastructure, workforce development and vaccination campaigns—had strengthened global confidence in Nigeria as a provider of health solutions.
Pate also highlighted Nigeria’s drive to eliminate cervical cancer, noting that although about 12,000 Nigerian women are diagnosed annually, the disease is preventable through early Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination.
He said that since the launch of the HPV vaccination programme in October 2023 across 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory, more than 14 million eligible girls aged nine to 14 years had been vaccinated, representing over 90 per cent coverage.
The minister said the achievements reflected deliberate sector reforms and improved coordination through the Sector-Wide Approach, aligning all tiers of government with development partners and non-governmental organizations.
He added that formal approval had recently been granted for an additional ₦68 billion for vaccine financing and related requirements, with the funds domiciled at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and scheduled for release.
Pate said the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu extended beyond economic reforms and infrastructure development and was anchored on improving the wellbeing of Nigerians.
According to him, Nigeria’s population of more than 240 million people is increasingly accessing quality healthcare services and preventive tools that protect lives, reduce avoidable illness and sustain productivity.
He said this progress was reflected in measurable improvements in health service utilization nationwide.
“In the second quarter of 2024, health facilities recorded about 10 million hospital visits. By the second quarter of 2025, visits exceeded 45 million, representing more than a fourfold increase,” Pate said.
He explained that the rise reflected increased use of essential and life-saving services, particularly immunization, among Nigeria’s youthful population, which had previously been constrained by misinformation, distrust and limited access.
According to the minister, the administration remains committed to ensuring that preventable illness and avoidable deaths no longer limit Nigerians’ ability to live healthy, productive and dignified lives.
