Children totalling 840,850 have been penciled down for the next round of polio immunisation in Gombe State. Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Health, Alhaji Usman Bello, disclosed this on Fridar in Gombe at the flag-off of the National Immunisation Days. He stated that the ministry had concluded preparations for the successful execution of the exercise for which more than 3,136 health and technical personnel had been kitted.
The Permanent Secretary who was represented by a director in the ministry, Alhaji Salisu Waziri, explained that special focus would be placed on nomadic fulanis? during the immunisation.
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He appealed to parents and all stakeholders to support the government in the fight to eradicate the wild polio virus in the country and called on the traditional and religious leaders to sustain their support which had since 2009, helped in curtailing the problem of rejection of polio vaccines by some households.
Bello however, noted that there were still areas with high cases of rejection but assured that government and other stakeholders would ensure total coverage during the exercise.
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“It is regrettable to note that five Local Government Areas, namely Akko, Gombe, Dukku, Funakaye and Yamatu/Deba, have unacceptable proportion of non-compliance and missed children.
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“Indeed, Akko LGA, and particularly Garko ward, had remained an enclave with the highest risk in the entire state, as a result of oral polio vaccine rejection”, he said.
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In his remark, the traditional ruler of Kaltungo, Mai Kaltungo, Alhaji Sale Mohammed, advised people in the state not to toy with the health condition of their children.
“I am advising particularly those with known history of rejecting the polio vaccine, that the vaccine is safe”. (NAN)
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