From Maduabuchi Nmeribeh, Kano
Though Kano has been declared Polio-Free for over 75 months, no fewer than 75, 061 children were vaccinated against the disease in Dambatta Local Government Area of the state.
This is in line with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s insistence that routine polio vaccination will continue in the state even though the World Health Organization (Who) has declared Nigeria free of the virus.
Ganduje’s argument hinged on the fact that even though the virus is no longer visible in the state, there was need for continuous vaccination of under-five children as preventive measures.
The AUTHORITY reports that health officials from the state Ministry of Health used Sweets and other confectionaries to lure children into partaking in the vaccination exercise, which was a huge success in Dambatta Local Government Area.
According to the Local Immunisation Official (LIO) in Dambatta, Alhaji Najib Yusuf, the exercise was a huge success as the targeted number of 74, 508 children was surpassed as the over 75, 061 children were immunised at the end of the exercise.
Alhaji Yusuf added that, “aside from this,the role played by District and Ward Heads, community leaders ,who always addressed resident of the local government council areas as well informed them on the consequences of not getting their children immunused made parents to cooperate and bring out their children for immunisation with ease. ”
He pointed out that for the fact that the Local Government Area is a boarder town with Katsina State, there was need to ensure that every child in the area were immunised.
According to him, immunisation officials also visited markets, football fields, places of worship, community play grounds and other places where children gather in a bid to ensure that all children under immunization age were captured
He said a lot of sensitization programmes,were carried out ,before the commencement of immunisation
exercise, , adding that, “all these lofty ideas ,enabled the Council to record huge success ,while enough vaccines and logistics were provided by the Council management.
“We thank Allah ,there was no issue of non-compliance, through out the period of four days immunisation exercise, while few children that were absent were equally immunised during the MOP exercise.”
