Fred Ezeh, Abuja 
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has confirmed that, with over 4 million unvaccinated children, Nigeria has the highest number of children under one year of age that missed out on the first dose of immunisation against measles. 
Nigeria was closely followed India with 2.9 million children, Pakistan and Indonesia has 1.2 million each, and Ethiopia has 1.1 million children under one year of age that missed out on the first dose of immunisation against measles.
Similarly, the United States was top on the list of high-income countries that its children, 2.5 million, did not receive first dose of vaccine between 2010 and 2017.
It was followed by France and the United Kingdom, with over 600,000 and 500,000 unvaccinated infants, respectively, during the same period.
UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, in a statement released in Abuja, on Thursday, said the ground for global measles outbreak being witnessed in both developed and developing countries, was laid years ago.
She said: “The virus will always find and spread through unvaccinated children. If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, then we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries.”
UNICEF was worried that global coverage levels of the second dose of the measles vaccines are even more alarming. However, it confirmed that Cameroon, Liberia and Nigeria are on track to do so in 2019.
With partners such as the Measles and Rubella Initiative and GAVI, the vaccine alliance, UNICEF said it was working to address the measles crisis through downward negotiation of vaccine cost, assisting countries to identify underserved areas and unreached children.
Other strategies include the procurement of vaccines and other immunisation supplies; supplementary vaccination campaigns to address gaps in routine immunisation coverage; synergy with relevant countries to introduce the second dose of the measles vaccine in the national immunisation schedule.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, confirmed the position of UNICEF as regards unvaccinated children in Nigeria.
Dr. Faisal who addressed a press conference to herald the 2019 African Vaccination Week, in Abuja, on Thursday, said that NPHCDA took several measures in past few years to correct the figure and it yielded positive result.
GAVI Ambassador, Awele Elumelu, said the recent outbreak of measles in United States was a wake up call to Nigerian government and other stakeholders, to intensify fight against measles through increased access to vaccination.