NIPDs: Kogi govt targets 1.4m children for immunization ―Official

Kogi Government says it is targeting 1.4 million children for immuninsation in the March National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDs) in the state.

The State Immunisation Officer, (SIO), John Amaje disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lokoja.

According to him, over 1,386,760 children between zero to five years in will be immunised with the Biovalent Oral Polio Vaccines (BOPV).

He said that BOPV is a double vaccine that immunes children against poliomyelitis, a deadly childhood disease that could cripple a child or even kill the victim.

He said, “A total of 1,490,000 doses of BOPV have been distributed across the 21 local government areas of the state to immunise about 1.4 million children.

“Also, 5,118 officers, comprising 21 State Technical Facilitators (STFs), 21 State Monitors, 105 Local Government Areas (LGA) teams and hundreds of Vaccination officers, have been deployed across the state for effective mobilisation and compliance.

“1,245 vaccination officers have been deployed to Kogi West, 2,538 to East and 1,188 to Central Senatorial districts, to ensure that all the targeted areas are well covered.’’

According to SIO, routine immunisation which is part of preventive measures against polio involve various stakeholders, including community leaders and health workers from all health facilities across the state.

He, however, said that the last wild polio case in the state came up in Dekina Local Government Area of the state in 2009.

Also, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Audu, commended Gov Bello of Kogi for approving the release of counterpart funds for all health programmes in the state.

He expressed satisfaction with the level of immunisation compliance by mothers, citing his monitoring of the exercise at Oshokoshoko community, a village near Lokoja as an example to buttress his impression.