Adamawa targets 130,000 children in polio campaign
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Post
Adamawa State has scheduled a special campaign against vaccine-derived poliovirus in Gombi and Fufore, targeting 130,000 children from 5 to 12 November. The operation aims to strengthen immunity in the two local government areas, according to James Vassumu Jacob, the Adamawa health agency’s director of immunisation, quoted by the Daily Post Nigeria.
Adamawa State plans to vaccinate 130,000 children against polio from 5 to 12 November in the Gombi and Fufore local government areas, where a vaccine-derived strain of poliovirus is circulating. The campaign will be conducted by the Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ADSPHCDA), with support from partners, according to its director of immunisation, James Vassumu Jacob, quoted by the Daily Post.
The campaign aims to strengthen immunity among children at risk in the two areas, after they were identified by the state surveillance team. Nigeria has eliminated wild poliovirus, but vaccine-derived poliovirus can spread among insufficiently vaccinated children and cause similar illness, Jacob explained. UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) are supporting the operation, which will be limited to Gombi and Fufore rather than covering all 21 local government areas in the state.
The targeted operation follows the announcement on 24 October of a national campaign targeting one million children in Nigeria. It is also part of a series of regional campaigns, including polio vaccination in two areas of Nasarawa, scheduled to begin on 7 November.
