The Kano State Government has appealed to the Federal Government for additional diphtheria vaccines to enable a fresh mass-immunisation campaign across the state following reports of a serious outbreak in Rano and other local government areas.
The Director-General of the Kano State Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Muhammad Abbas, made the appeal while addressing journalists on Tuesday night. He urged residents, particularly parents, to report suspected cases early because prompt treatment can significantly improve outcomes.
The development followed a warning from the Kano State House of Assembly that more than 50 children had reportedly died in Rano LGA, prompting lawmakers to demand urgent intervention from the state government and intensified vaccination.
Thousands of Children Remain Vulnerable
The scale of Kano’s wider diphtheria problem is particularly concerning.
According to the Kano health authorities, more than 38,000 suspected cases have been recorded since 2022, with over 31,000 confirmed. More than 55 per cent of those cases involved children who had received no vaccination at all, while another significant proportion were only partially immunised.
This vaccination gap is one of the biggest challenges facing Kano.
Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable but potentially fatal bacterial disease, particularly dangerous for children who have not received adequate immunisation.
Previous Vaccination Campaign Reached 835,000 Children
The request for additional vaccines comes shortly after a major emergency vaccination campaign.
Médecins Sans Frontières, working with the Kano State Ministry of Health, administered more than 835,000 diphtheria vaccine doses across two vaccination rounds in 2026. The second round alone reached nearly 487,000 children across 20 wards.
Despite those efforts, MSF warned in July that immunity gaps remained and that diphtheria continued to pose a serious threat because of low routine immunisation coverage, overcrowding, delayed healthcare seeking and malnutrition.
That makes the latest request for more vaccines particularly important: mass vaccination can reduce transmission, but sustained routine immunisation is necessary to prevent the disease from returning.
Early Treatment Could Save Lives
Kano health officials are also concerned about delayed reporting.
Prof. Abbas said the state has 126 disease surveillance and notification officers deployed across its 44 local government areas, yet some suspected deaths reportedly occurred without being brought to health facilities.
Parents and communities have therefore been urged to seek medical attention immediately when children develop symptoms suggestive of diphtheria rather than waiting until the condition becomes severe.
The Federal Government has previously stressed that vaccination remains the most effective protection against diphtheria and that vaccines are provided through Nigeria’s public health system.
The Bigger Issue
The Kano outbreak exposes a deeper problem beyond the immediate shortage of vaccines: Nigeria’s routine immunisation system still has significant gaps, particularly among children who have never received basic vaccines.
The fact that more than half of Kano’s reported diphtheria cases involved zero-dose children demonstrates how vulnerable communities can become when children remain outside the formal healthcare system.
For Kano, the immediate priorities are therefore clear:
More vaccines. Faster diagnosis. Early treatment. Stronger surveillance. And, most importantly, sustained routine immunisation.
The Federal Government’s response to Kano’s request will be critical—not only to containing the current outbreak but also to preventing another wave of avoidable deaths among children.
