Adamawa State is gearing up for a fresh round of polio vaccination, according to the announcement by the Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ADSPHCDA) on Monday.
The vaccination campaign is scheduled to commence on Thursday, December 14, and conclude on the 17th.
Dr. Sulaiman Sa’adu Bashir, the Executive Chairman of ADSPHDA, shared details about the upcoming vaccination exercise during a news conference.
This marks the third round in the last four months, with each previous round successfully vaccinating over one million children against polio.
Dr. Bashir emphasized the agency’s commitment to prevention, stating that regular supervision of immunization exercises is crucial to achieving optimal preventive status.
For the upcoming round, 1,811 teams of officials will be deployed to the 21 Local Government Areas of the state.
Dr. Bashir explained that Adamawa State prioritizes anti-polio vaccination due to the risk posed by states and communities that interact with it, even though the state itself has no current issues with the virus.
Providing background information, Dr. Bashir highlighted that the previous polio vaccinations occurred between November 12 and November 15, and the round before that took place from September 29 to October 2, all within the last four months.
Notably, these exercises achieved high success rates, with coverage reaching as high as 102 percent. In the last round, despite targeting 1,322,695 children, 1,345,872 were reached, indicating a 102 percent coverage success.
Dr. Bashir attributed these successes to robust campaigns involving all stakeholders, breaking barriers, and boosting acceptance, despite some pockets of resistance to immunization.