Should I Vaccinate My Kids? A Guide for Nigerian Mothers

Introduction

As a mother, you want the very best for your children. You feed them well, keep them clean, and protect them from harm. But there's one powerful tool that can protect your child from serious diseases that you might not see every day—vaccination.

Vaccination is like giving your child's body a practice session to learn how to fight dangerous diseases before they ever meet them. Think of it as teaching your child how to swim in shallow water before they go into the deep end. The vaccines contain tiny, harmless pieces of germs that teach the body how to recognize and defeat the real disease if it ever shows up.

In Nigeria, the government provides free vaccines to protect children against deadly diseases like polio, measles, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, tuberculosis, yellow fever, pneumonia, and hepatitis B. These diseases used to kill or disable thousands of Nigerian children every year, but vaccines have dramatically reduced these numbers.

3 Important Facts About Childhood Vaccination

Vaccines Save Millions of Lives Every Year Worldwide, childhood vaccines prevent between 3.5 and 5 million deaths every year. In Nigeria specifically, our country was declared polio-free in August 2020 after not recording any wild polio cases for three years. This disease, which once left thousands of children unable to walk, has been practically eliminated through vaccination.

Your Child's Body Can Handle Vaccines Easily Some mothers worry that giving several vaccines at once might be too much for their baby's body. Here's the truth: every single day, your child's body successfully fights off thousands of germs from the air they breathe, the food they eat, and the things they touch. The tiny amount in vaccines is far less than what their body handles naturally each day. Multiple vaccines given together are perfectly safe and reduce the number of clinic visits you need to make.

Vaccination Protects Your Whole Community When you vaccinate your child, you're not just protecting them—you're also protecting babies who are too young to be vaccinated, elderly relatives, and people with weak bodies who cannot receive vaccines. This is called "herd immunity." It works like a shield around vulnerable people. But this protection only works when enough people in the community are vaccinated—usually more than 95%.

What Do You Need to Know About This Topic?

The Nigerian Vaccination Schedule Your child should start receiving vaccines from birth and continue until they're about two years old. The schedule includes vaccines given at birth (BCG for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and polio), at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks, 6 months, and 9 months. Your health worker will give you a card to record all the vaccines—keep it safe like you would a birth certificate! Bring it to every clinic visit.

Vaccines Are Free and Safe All vaccines in the government program are provided free of charge at government health facilities. They have been tested thoroughly and are used successfully around the world. While your child might have mild reactions like slight pain where the needle went in, a small fever, or fussiness for a day or two, these are normal signs that the body is building protection. Serious problems are extremely rare.

The Real Risk Is in NOT Vaccinating Let's be clear about the risks: the danger from actually catching these diseases is far, far greater than any risk from the vaccines themselves. Measles can cause brain damage, pneumonia, and death. Whooping cough can make babies stop breathing. Tetanus causes painful muscle spasms and kills about 1 in 10 people who get it. Polio can leave children paralyzed for life. Before vaccines, these diseases killed or disabled thousands of Nigerian children every year.

Compare this to vaccines: serious problems occur in less than one in a million doses. Your child's risk of having a serious problem from a vaccine is much, much lower than their risk of suffering or dying from the disease itself. It's always better to prevent a disease than to treat it after your child gets sick. The tiny, temporary discomfort of a vaccine is nothing compared to watching your child fight a deadly disease.

Don't Wait or Delay Some mothers wait because their child has a small cold, or because they heard something that worried them. Unless your child is very seriously ill, has had a severe allergic reaction to vaccines before, or has been told by a doctor not to receive vaccines, there's usually no reason to delay. Every day without protection is a day your child could catch a dangerous disease. If you're uncertain for any reason, speak with your healthcare provider rather than simply skipping the appointment.

Common Misunderstandings There are many false stories circulating in Nigerian communities. Some people believe vaccines can make children sick or cause the very diseases they prevent, or that polio drops protect against all childhood illnesses, even that vaccines cause infertility or are aimed at controlled the human population - none of these are true! Vaccines teach your body to fight specific diseases, but they don't protect against everything—which is why completing the full schedule is important. Vaccines are safe and save countless lives across Africa and the whole world. Also, vaccines do not cause autism—extensive research has proven there is no connection.

If You Could Share One Thing About This Topic With All the People of Nigeria, What Would It Be?

If I could share just one message with every mother in Nigeria, it would be this: Vaccination is one of the greatest expressions of love you can give your child.

Just as you wouldn't skip feeding your child or keeping them warm, don't skip their vaccinations. These simple injections are proven to prevent suffering and save lives. Nigeria has made tremendous progress—we've eliminated polio and dramatically reduced deaths from measles, whooping cough, and other diseases. But this progress only continues when mothers like you take action.

Your children are Nigeria's future. By ensuring they receive all their vaccines on time, you're giving them the healthy start they deserve and contributing to a healthier nation. The vaccines are free, they're available at health facilities across the country, and they work. Don't let false information or fear rob your child of this protection.

Make sure your child's card is up to date. If you've missed appointments, it's never too late to catch up—you don't have to start over. Talk to your healthcare provider, ask questions if you're unsure about anything, and join the millions of Nigerian mothers who are protecting their children through vaccination.

Remember: A vaccinated child is a protected child. A protected child can grow, learn, and thrive. And that is exactly what every Nigerian mother wants for her children.