In October 2023, Nigeria's government launched a new vaccine drive aimed at curbing cervical cancer, which claims around 8,000 lives in the West African country every year. But the campaign for the has also seen the spread of conspiracy theories, including from public figures. An influential radio host suggested that the jab might cause infertility and could serve as a covert means of controlling Nigeria’s population growth. Experts, however, say the claims have no scientific basis.

Nigeria announced in late October its plan to introduce the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunisation programme.

On October 25, 2023, Abuja-based radio host Ahmed Isah told listeners of his daily "Brekete Family Show" that the government’s cervical cancer vaccination drive may be harmful to young women who are the targets of the campaign.

The popular programme is broadcast to a live studio audience and streamed simultaneously on Facebook and YouTube. Recordings of the show are also published on both platforms. Guests frequently include top government officials.

"If you have daughters like me, if any school tells you that it wants to give your daughters cervical cancer vaccine, do not agree," Isah said in Pidgin in the presence of Nigeria's internal affairs minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo who had been invited to the programme.

The radio host based his opposition to the vaccines on the fact that the "United States, China, and the United Kingdom were yet to discover cures for...

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