Korede Abdullah in Lagos
The Kwara State Government has embarked on an ambitious polio vaccination campaign, aiming to immunize at least one million children across the state’s 16 local government areas.
According to Nusirat Elelu, Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, the three-day Local Immunization Days initiative began on October 21 and will conclude on October 23, 2024.
The program is being conducted at Primary Health Care facilities and outreach posts across Kwara’s 193 wards. Elelu emphasized the importance of immunization, stating that it provides protection against life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, diarrhea, influenza, meningitis, and certain cancers.
“Immunisation provides protection against life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, diarrhoea, influenza, meningitis, and certain cancers, and it can significantly reduce post-neonatal under-five mortality,” Elelu said.
This routine immunization program will specifically target children under two years of age, with over 300,000 children expected to receive life-saving vaccines within the three-day period.
In addition to the current campaign, a separate round of outbreak response to the circulating Mutant Variant of Polio is scheduled for October 26-29, 2024.
This effort aims to immunize over one million children to prevent childhood paralysis from poliovirus.
Elelu urged parents, caregivers, religious leaders, schools, and Quranic institutions to ensure that eligible children are available for vaccination.
Vaccination teams will be visiting homes, markets, religious centers, and schools to administer the vaccine.
By launching this massive vaccination campaign, the Kwara State Government demonstrates its commitment to protecting the health and well-being of its citizens, particularly its most vulnerable population – children.
Similar efforts have been successful in the past, such as the integrated measles and polio vaccination campaign in December 2021, which targeted 601,865 children against measles and 1,074,126 children under age 5 against polio.
“All children aged zero to five years are expected to be vaccinated, regardless of their previous vaccination status,” Elelu emphasised.
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