Nigeria launches vaccine-related events response plan to strengthen safety, public trust
By Ojoma Akor
Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), in collaboration with the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), has launched a national Vaccine-Related Events (VRE) Response Plan and the Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Surveillance Field Guide.
The documents aim to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to detect, investigate, and respond to vaccine safety concerns while protecting public confidence in immunization.
The VRE plan, launched in Abuja, provides a coordinated framework for managing vaccine-related events that could affect public confidence and disrupt immunization services.
Speaking at the launch, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr Muyi Aina, said the increasing introduction of new vaccines, large-scale vaccination campaigns and efforts to reach underserved communities made it essential for Nigeria to strengthen its vaccine safety systems.
Represented by the Director of Disease Control and Immunization of NPHCDA, Dr Rufai Garba said vaccines remained among the most effective public health interventions. Still, their success depended not only on the ability to deliver them but also on the population’s confidence and trust.
“Any adverse event, whether caused by a vaccine, coincidental to vaccination, related to program implementation, or simply perceived by the public to be associated with vaccination, can rapidly generate concern,” Aina said.
He noted that in an environment where information and misinformation could spread rapidly, Nigeria could not afford to wait until an event occurred before deciding how to respond.
“Response, therefore, cannot be improvised after an event has occurred. We must be prepared before it happens,” he said.
He said the VRE Response Plan clarifies stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities and establishes mechanisms for coordination, surveillance, investigation, clinical management, causality assessment, risk communication, and community engagement.
He stressed that the plan was not an NPHCDA document alone, saying effective management of vaccine-related events required a “whole-of-system response” involving the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, NPHCDA, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), state and local government structures, health workers, clinicians, surveillance officers, communication teams, communities and development partners.
“When an event occurs, Nigerians should see one coordinated public health system responding with speed, competence, transparency and empathy,” Aina said.
He said vaccine safety was both a technical and public responsibility, adding that authorities must investigate concerns rigorously, communicate what is known, and acknowledge what remains unknown.
Plan to be implemented nationwide
Aina said the launch was only the beginning of the implementation process. She announced that NPHCDA, in collaboration with its partners, would prioritize orientation and capacity building for relevant stakeholders at national and subnational levels.
He called on state governments, State Primary Health Care Development Agencies and Boards, program managers, surveillance officers, health workers, and partners to own the framework and ensure its implementation across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He also acknowledged the technical and financial contributions of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AFENET, World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners involved in developing and validating the plan.
Aina, however, emphasized that despite the support from international partners, the framework was ultimately Nigeria’s responsibility.
“This is Nigeria’s plan, and its implementation must be nationally owned, nationally led and sustainably embedded within our health system,” he said.
He said the goal was to ensure that whenever a vaccine-related event occurred anywhere in Nigeria, the response would be rapid, coordinated, evidence-based, transparent and centered on affected people.
Nigeria must generate its own vaccine safety evidence — US CDC
Dr Janet Gidudu of the U.S. CDC’s Global Immunization Division said strengthening vaccine safety systems was critical to addressing vaccine hesitancy and maintaining public confidence.
She said much of the vaccine safety evidence historically used to inform decisions in low- and middle-income countries came from higher-income countries, particularly the United States and Europe.
“We must generate our own information, have our own systems and take care of our own,” Gidudu said.
Gidudu said African countries needed stronger systems to generate local evidence on vaccine safety.
She said this was particularly important as African countries moved toward local vaccine manufacturing and expanded vaccine use during routine immunization programs and public health emergencies.
According to her, vaccine safety was inseparable from public trust.
“Whatever we do, from when a vaccine is being developed to when it’s given to somebody, everybody has to know it is safe, and especially that mother who brings their child to the clinic,” she said.
She added that transparency was essential whenever safety concerns emerged, noting that authorities had a responsibility to communicate the science accurately.
Gidudu said the U.S. CDC had supported Nigeria’s vaccine safety activities for several years, including work related to the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) rollout and COVID-19 vaccination.
She said work on Nigeria’s VRE Response Plan began about two years ago, after a baseline assessment identified gaps and informed the framework.
Gidudu also urged development partners, including UNICEF and Gavi, to support Nigeria in implementing the plan.
She explained that the new approach was designed to move away from developing separate response plans for individual vaccines or antigens.
Instead, the Nigerian framework is intended to be adaptable across routine immunization vaccines, vaccination campaigns and vaccines introduced during future outbreaks or emergencies.
Gidudu said Nigeria’s experience could serve as an example for other African countries seeking to strengthen vaccine safety systems.
AFENET: Plan covers preparedness, response and recovery
Dr Patrick Nguku, AFENET’s Regional Technical Coordinator, said the organization worked closely with the Federal Ministry of Health and other government partners to conduct the baseline assessment, identify gaps and develop and validate the response plan.
He described the framework as comprehensive, covering preparedness, protection, investigation, response, communication, recovery, evaluation and continuous education.
Nguku said the initiative went beyond adverse events following immunization (AEFI) to address vaccine-related events more broadly.
He said AFENET’s work also included strengthening AEFI technical working committees, national data validation and harmonization, causality assessments, supportive supervision, vaccine safety risk communication, and other activities.
He urged stakeholders to ensure that the plan moved from being a national policy document to a practical tool routinely used at all levels.
“AFENET remains committed to supporting the Government of Nigeria to institutionalize this response plan, to strengthen the AEFI surveillance and response, and to build sustainable capacity and promote evidence-based vaccine safety practices at all levels,” he said.
Dr Lilian Okeke, Vaccine Safety Project Lead at AFENET, said strengthening public trust was a major objective of the new framework.
She said the VRE Response Plan would guide health workers and other stakeholders, including the media, on how to respond to vaccine misinformation and rumors.
Representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and Gavi described the launch as a major milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its vaccine safety system.
They said it was particularly important as Nigeria worked towards universal health coverage and continued introducing new vaccines.
They pledged continued support for implementation, training from the national level to service delivery points, and institutionalizing the plan at subnational levels.