The Sokoto State government says over 811,385 children?will be immunised?during the four-day National Immunisation Plus Days ( NIPDs) against polio which commenced on Saturday.?
Alhaji Garba Kadi, the?Director, Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency ?(PHCDA),?said this at the launch of the NIPDs on Saturday in Chimola, Gwadabawa Local Government.
He said that?over one million children between the ages of zero and five years were immunised during?a similar exercise in February.
Kadi said that in spite of efforts by the state government and the Sokoto Sultanate Council to ensure?that the state was polio free,?some communities were?making it impossible to eradicate the disease within the shortest possible time.
‘’However, the state government is determined to stop the circulation of the wild polio virus in before the end of 2012 by conducting good rounds of the immunisation?plus days.''
Kadi disclosed that?the state government had engaged the services of 38 medical doctors, four senior midwives and four senior community health officers to supervise the conduct of the exercise.
The director said that?the event marked?another turning point?in the?collective desires to?ensure the optimal protection of?children against?poliomyelitis and other?diseases.
“The fight against polio has over the years been traumatic and labour intensive which brought about fatigue?and huge capital outlay.
“We have to thank? the Almighty Allah for supporting our cause in that we have succeeded in the reduction of cases of wild polio virus from hundreds ?in 2004 to just one case to date ,’’ Kadi, said.
An Islamic Scholar, Alhaji Sani Kwanni, who delivered a paper entitled: “Islamic perspective on polio eradication,’’ said that Islam was not against immunisation.
He added that polio vaccine was safe and had since been okayed by a team of local and international Islamic scholars. (NAN)