Enugu begins vaccination against Polio

The Enugu State government says it has deployed 2,000 well-trained vaccination teams for the ongoing state-wide May Mass Polio Vaccination for children between 0 and five years.

George Ugwu, the executive secretary of Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ENS-PHCDA), disclosed this while flagging off the vaccination at St Luke’s Anglican Church Premises in Ogui axis of Enugu on Sunday.

Ugwu said the state was targeting a total of 1.3 million children in the 291 health wards within the 17 local government areas of the state from Saturday, May 14, to Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

“We are grateful to our health partners for their enormous support and our amiable governor for giving us the moral and financial push to be up to date in all our vaccination programmes and other services offered by the ENS-PHCDA.

“The 2,000 well-trained and authorised health teams will visit homes, schools, churches, market places and everywhere children under 5 years are found to administer two drops of oral polio vaccine into their mouths.

“Other immunisation services will be going on in the 688 primary health centres scattered in various communities within the state during this period,” he said.

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Ugwu further explained that the four-day exercise might be extended, adding “there might likely be a mop-up of extra two days for neighbourhoods or areas with peculiar terrains”.

The executive secretary said that the vaccines are free, safe and effective, noting that “the vaccine protects children from poliomyelitis infection, which paralyses or kills such infected children”.

In a goodwill message, Ngozi Nwosu, deputy national incident manager of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), urged mothers and caregivers in the state to ensure “no child is left out in the vaccination”.

“What we are doing is to ensure that there would be no resurgence of polio in the country.”

The acting state coordinator of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Joy Anorue, commended the state government and its ENS-PHCDA officials for promoting the culture of preventive healthcare by fully participating and carrying out special and routine vaccinations.

“We want our women and mothers to cooperate with vaccination teams and help them to spot any child that has skipped vaccination before now,” Anorue said.