The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has confirmed deploying soldiers to escort vaccination teams into communities severely affected by insurgency and banditry, as insecurity continues to hinder routine immunisation in parts of northern Nigeria.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, Rufai Ahmed, NPHCDA Director of Disease and Immunisation, said that since the rollout began in December 2024, 202,860 children in Kebbi and Bayelsa states have received the malaria vaccine.

“We work with vigilantes. In the real difficult areas, we use the military. They go into these areas and help us,” Ahmed explained, noting that services remain very limited in highly compromised locations.

The vaccination drive uses 846,000 doses of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine supplied by Gavi, developed at Oxford University and endorsed by WHO, targeting children — Nigeria’s most vulnerable group to malaria deaths. Kebbi and Bayelsa were selected for Phase One due to their high malaria burden.

Ahmed highlighted that Nigeria still has approximately 2.1 million “zero-dose children” — children who have never received a single routine vaccine by age one — mainly in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, and insurgency-hit communities in the North-East.

To reach these children, the agency employs a strategy called IEV (Identify, Enumerate, Vaccinate). Between July 2024 and October 2025, over 500,000 previously unreached children were vaccinated despite displacement, banditry, and poor access roads.

Ngozi Nwosu, Director of Primary Health Care Systems Development, added that insecurity and mass migration have prompted intensified recruitment and retention of health personnel. Since January 2024, 5,670 frontline health workers have been recruited, alongside 27,086 community-based workers serving in militarised zones and remote settlements. Additionally, over 70,000 health workers have undergone accelerated training, including e-learning modules via mobile phones.

Efforts to retain staff include rural posting allowances, better pay, and accommodation within primary health centres.

Despite the security challenges, Ahmed reaffirmed the agency’s commitment:

“If it takes the military to get to a child, we will use the military. Nigeria cannot afford to allow insecurity to sentence children to preventable diseases.”