Over one million children have been penciled down for immunization by the Anambra State ministry of health in the March 2014 National Immunisation Plus Days, (NIPDS), the Commissioner for Health, Dr Lawrence Ikeakor has revealed.
Ikeakor, who spoke with journalists through the Director of Public Health and Disease Control, Dr Chukwudi Okoye broke down the statistics to include- 1,043,187 children under the age of five and 208,637 under the age of one, 260,797 pregnant women and 1,147,506 women of child bearing age.
The immunisation, which kicked off on Saturday, 1st March would ends on 4th March.
Governor Peter Obi is expected to conclude the process at Aguata Local Government headquatres by administering vaccines to some children.
He said the National Immunisation plus days approach is a strategy to deliver OPV together with other routine immunization antigens and public health interventions to eradicate poliomyelitis in Nigeria and sustain the eradication in Anambra State.
“The objective is to ensure that eligible children receive two drops of potent oral polio vaccines, to sustain the interruption of wild polio virus in the state, and to scale up delivery of other routine immunization antigens as well as other child survival interventions”.
Ikeakor said Anambra people had become so enlightened that the state had remained polio free for six straight years now. He said the NIPDS in Anambra would offer all vaccines that could stamp out polio.
He said that children from 0-59 months will receive OPV, irrespective of their previous immunization status, whereas children under 1 year would receive BCG, children under 2 weeks will receive HBV, while pentanvalent vaccines, measles vaccine, yellow fever vaccine will be administered to children according to their ages and tetanus toxoid will be administered to pregnant women and those of child bearing age.
According to the commissioner, the ministry will also provide pluses like soaps, biscuits, albendazole, iron folate and other materials as incentives for participation.
He urged mothers and care givers to avail their children of the opportunity of the NIPDS when ministry officials visit their homes, churches, schools and other public places.
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