?Nigeria may save about N2.649 trillion within? a period of 10 years if it judiciously follows its vaccination programmes across the country, the Director, Alliances and Information, International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the John Hopkins University, Lois Privor-Dumm? has said.
?Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja at the two- day National Vaccine Summit, she explained that the economic gain from not taking children to hospitals as a result of sicknesses resulting from not having vaccines amounted to N2.6 trillion while N49 billion was the medical cost that would be saved in the period.????????
? According to? Privor- Dumm,? Nigeria could save up to over 600,000 miles over ten year period which,? she said was quite substantial, adding, “when you translate that into medical costs saved that is N49 billion over a ten year period. What is even more exciting is? the potential for economic gains, the productivity gains, that is because parents are not having to take their children to hospitals and not loosing time at work.
?“They go into the work force and not having to care for a sick child. Those gains are even more impressive N2.6 trillion over a ten year period. When I saw those numbers initially I thought that is pretty substantial, but when you figure out all the costs associated with making sure you have healthy children, it is really the right thing to do.
?“There is a lot of opportunities to strengthen the health system and I think it starts with the leaders at all levels within Nigeria, not just people at the Federal level, the people going down to the local government areas.”
?On the safety of vaccines, she said: “Vaccines are relatively safe interventions particularly when compared to the benefits that are received from giving vaccines because you are preventing a lot of diseases.”
?“Vaccines are given all over the world in every single population which helps to mitigate some of those risks and to ensure that children receive the best protection,” she added.