Immunise your children against polio, parents urged
By Kemi Olatunde
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Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OSPHCDA), Dr. Francis Akanbiemu has charged stakeholders on the need to sensitise residents to present their children for the Outbreak Response (OBR II) for polio which commences on Saturday.
The exercise which targets children between 0 – 59 months runs between January 22 and 25, 2022 across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.
He gave the charge during a stakeholders meeting on outbreak response in Akure on Wednesday.
According to him, the state has not recorded any outbreak due to the partnership of stakeholders, adding that it was important for them to protect the state by getting involved in aggressive sensitisation of residents on the exercise.
While calling for active participation of stakeholders in ensuring the residents were mobilised for the vaccination, he noted that a new type of vaccine; novel Oral Polio Vaccine (nOPV) will be used for the exercise.
He called on parents and caregivers to present their eligible children for the exercise in order to have a healthy state.
Speaking on the objective of the meeting, Director, Community Health and Education, Dr. Samuel Abiona said it was aimed at compacting polio with a specially designed vaccine and pleaded with participants to continue to render unflinching support to the agency’s programmes especially the OBR II.
Delivering his goodwill message on behalf of partners, representative of WHO, Dr. Aladesawe Talaat stressed the need for team work from stakeholders in order to have a successful vaccination exercise.
He called on them to do the needful in order to achieve the aim of the exercise
Also speaking, Director, Disease Control and Immunisation, Dr. Victor Adefesoye explained that some polio virus were still causing harm in children noting that the reason government was putting measures in place to prevent it in the state.
He said that the exercise should be effectively carried out through stakeholders’ commitment adding that the vaccines will be given by health workers in various health facilities, school house to house and temporary fixed posts etc.
While emphasising those to take the vaccine, he explained that it should not be given to children who were above the age of five saying “a child of five years and one day cannot take the vaccine.”
He called on health workers to be committed to the exercise noting that it was an offence on their part not to vaccinate any eligible child.
He assured the gathering that health workers have been trained with appropriate committee put in place to monitor the training exercise.
Adefesoye who noted that the vaccination did not prevent other activities in the various health facilities, called for sensitisation of parents/ care givers on card retaintion in order to make it available when necessary.
On her part, State Health Educator, Mrs Yetunde Akinyosoye called for active participation of stakeholders in the campaign for OBR II.
Participants promised to do the needful in making the exercise successful