Oyo targets 3M children for immunisation

The Oyo State Government says it is targeting more than 3 million children in the 2017 National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDs) against Poliomyelitis and Tetanus Toxoid.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Azeez Adeduntan, told newsmen in Ibadan on Thursday that pregnant women would be immunised against Tetanus Toxoid.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first round of the NIPDS in the state is scheduled to hold from March 25 to March 28.

Adeduntan disclosed that more than 1.6million children of zero to 59months were targeted for Oral Polio Vaccination while 1.7 million women of child-bearing age would be vaccinated against Tetanus.

He stated that 4,152 children below one year (zero -11 months) , who had missed their routine immunisation, would be vaccinated according to their due antigens.

Adedutan added that children from ages of zero to five years would be immunised against poliomyelitis while missed routine antigens would be administered on children between 0 – 11 months who missed the routine immunisation scheduled.

He said the NIPDs was a supplemental immunisation campaign to ensure immunity among under-five children against poliomyelitis.

Adeduntan said that it was also aimed at vaccinating unimmunised under-one-year-old children against every other vaccine preventable diseases.

The commissioner gave an assurance that the government would not relent in its efforts to improve health care delivery in the state.