Table 2.

Nigeria’s readiness indicators and thematic areas - February 12, 2021

Thematic area	Indicators
Coordination	A national coordinating mechanism/body has been created and technical committees have been established to oversee preparations for nOPV2 across the following critical areas: 1) cold chain, logistics, and vaccine management; 2) safety/causality; 3) advocacy, communications, and social mobilization; 4) surveillance; and 5) laboratory
Approvals	An official decision to implement nOPV2 for outbreak response is confirmed and documented by national immunization partners
	Approval for the importation of nOPV2 has been secured from the national agency for food and drug administration and control and documented for reference
	Approval for the use of nOPV2 has been secured from the national agency for food and drug administration and Control and documented for reference
Cold chain/vaccine management	Logistics processes, vaccine management protocols, and other relevant tools for outbreak response have been adapted to reflect the characteristics of nOPV2 (i.e., containment, reverse logistics requirements, and 50-dose vial presentation)
	A cold-chain inventory assessment has been conducted or updated; freeze capacity and pre-qualified vaccine carrier availability are well documented
Acute flaccid paralysis surveillance	A plan has been developed to carry out active case searched in all priority sites in each geographic area where nOPV2 was used, one month following nOPV2 use in that area
	A plan has been developed to collect vaccination coverage data from age-matched, randomly selected community members around AFP VPD cases
	An AFP Case Investigation Form has been adapted to record routine and SIA oral poliovirus doses
	A desk surveillance review has been completed, and a plan has been developed to address identified weaknesses relevant to nOPV2 use
	A plan has been developed for systematic contact sampling of all AFP cases for 6 months after an nOPV2 outbreak response
	The country achieves a non-polio AFP rate ≥2 at the national level and in at least 80% of all districts with more than 100,000 children aged under 15 years
	The country meets stool adequacy of ≥80% at the national level and in at least 80% of all districts reporting AFP cases
Environmental surveillance	The country has at least one functional ES site in areas where nOPV2 will be used
	A plan has been developed to collect ES samples twice per month for 6 months after nOPV2 use
Safety monitoring	An active AESI safety monitoring protocol has been developed, and materials and resources at all levels are available for AEFI surveillance and AESI active case search
	All disease surveillance officers have been trained on AEFI surveillance and AESI active case search
	The causality assessment committee has been trained to conduct AEFI/AESI causality assessment and has been oriented on nOPV2 AESIs case-definitions
	The nOPV2 vaccine-related event response plan has been adapted to the country context, with stakeholder roles/responsibilities outlined and relevant training conducted
	The plan for the implementation of active safety surveillance in the local context has been finalized and ethical approvals secured if needed in conjunction with the CDC
Advocacy, communication, and social mobilization	Advocacy strategy for key in-country stakeholders (e.g., medical practitioners, religious and community leaders) has been finalized
	The UNICEF’s Communication for Development action plan has been developed. Key components include: nOPV2 communications with messaging adapted to the local context; key actors, including front-line workers have been trained; all stakeholders have been mapped and sensitized; concrete plans for digital platforms have been developed; all necessary messaging, tools, and products have been developed
	A crisis communication plan has been developed, and the plan addresses the needs identified in the nOPV2 VRE response plan for AEFI and possible public controversy (including tailored content to respond to misinformation on social media)
Laboratory	A plan has been developed to prepare the national lab for nOPV2 use, including updating the isolation algorithms and stocking/ training on the ITD testing kits for both AFP and ES along with modifications to the reporting mechanism
	Relevant laboratories are prepared to ship samples to CDC or National Institute for Biological Standards and control for complete genome sequencing for post-response monitoring
Campaign operations	SIA guidelines have been updated to include nOPV2 (including microplanning tools and the SIA preparedness dashboard)
	An nOPV2 SIA training plan and materials are developed

nOPV2: novel oral poliovirus vaccine type 2; AFP VPD: acute flaccid paralysis vaccine preventable disease; ES: environmental surveillance; AESI: adverse events of special interest; AEFI: adverse events following immunization; CDC: centers for disease control and prevention; UNICEF: united nations international children's emergency fund; VRE: vaccine-related event; ITD: intratypic differentiation; SIA: supplementary immunization activity