By Hassan Zaggi
Although the school is one of the biggest in Damaturu Local Government Area of Yobe State, it looks calm as at 9 am. Few workers could be seen in the premises. However, inside the class rooms, something seems to be happening. It was Yellow Fever mass vaccination.
Going round the classes, one could see vaccination teams busy administering yellow fever vaccine to some pupils while others, quietly stand on the queue, each, waiting for his turn.
Looking at the faces of the pupils, one could see anxiety mixed with excitement. One could visibly notice the increase in their heart beat as they await their turns, but their faces were bright.
When it got to the turn of 7-years-old Ahmed Abubakar, he willingly stretched his hand to the vaccinators. After receiving his dose of the vaccine, young Abubakar smiled and left.
When asked by our The AUTHORITY if the injection was painful, he said yes, but that he was happy that he received it.
Even though, little Abubakar could not explain the many benefits of the Yellow Fever vaccine, he only said: “I will not be sick.”
This, however, shows the level of awareness created by the Yobe State government prior to the commencement of the 12 days mass Yellow Fever vaccination campaign across the 17 local governments areas of the state.
It would be recalled that the Yellow fever mass vaccination campaign was earlier postponed in Yobe state due to logistics reasons before being rescheduled to commence Thursday last week.
The Yellow Fever campaign which was targeted to capture 85 per cent of the population in the state within the ages of 9 months to 44 years old, was administered in designated places, schools and health facilities within the communities.
A visit to some local government areas of the state including Damaturu, Tarmuwa and Fure by The AUTHORITY shows massive turn by residents at the clinics and schools.
Speaking to our Correspondent, the Ward Primary Health Care Facility Manager of Gwange Clinic, Mrs Esther Salihu, disclosed that people were visiting the clinic in large numbers to get the vaccine.
According to her, there was no issue of rejection in the ward, stressing that: “You can see the number of people we have here ready to get the vaccine. In fact, they are the ones looking for us.”
On his part, the Director Immunisation and Disease Control and Incident Manager of Yobe State, Dr. Umar Chiroma, revealed that the Integrated Yellow Fever campaign targeted to reach an estimated 3.7 million people with potent Yellow fever vaccine across all the 17 local government areas of the state.
Explaining the reason for the high-level success of the Yellow Fever vaccination campaign, Dr. Chiroma said that: “You know this campaign ought to have started long before now, but because of issues around vaccine logistics and other related operational issues that we shifted it till this week.
“Our social mobilization activities commenced early. Passing communication across all community structures and also understanding the importance of the Yellow Fever Vaccines and also realizing that it is a safe vaccine and if you take the record of Yobe State even from the HPV where our girl-child were vaccinated, we had a very good coverage. I think we have firm believe in community structures that whatever government brings, it is good to accept it.”
