He said the mass immunisation effort is a crucial step towards improving child health outcomes and achieving herd immunity within the state.
The Kaduna State Government has announced a large-scale immunisation campaign targeting over five million children across all 23 local government areas of the state.
According to Abdullahi Musa, the State Incident Manager at the Primary Health Care Development Agency, the campaign will focus on protecting children from Measles- Rubella, and Polio.
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Speaking during a media orientation session at the Primary Health Care Board in Kaduna on Thursday, Mr Musa emphasised the importance of the vaccination drive in reducing the prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases.
He said the mass immunisation effort is a crucial step towards improving child health outcomes and achieving herd immunity within the state.
According to him, the exercise, which will run from 16-27 October, is part of a nationwide effort to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases and to strengthen the country public healthcare system.
He added that the State Primary Health Care Agency would adopt the integrated vaccination campaign approach to ensure that five million children and adolescents are vaccinated against measles- rubella and polio.
According to him, the vaccination campaign targets children aged nine months to 14 years, citing the negative effects of measles and rubella among children during the upcoming integrated supplemental immunisation activities campaign.
He said the integrated immunisation approach is more potent, cost-effective, and highly efficient.
He expressed satisfaction with the integrated vaccine similar to the routine vaccines for its safety.
He also said the combination of measles and rubella vaccines significantly improved the efficacy of immunisation, raising protection levels from 85 per cent to 95 per cent.
“Measles and rubella are different viruses that manifest similar symptoms, except that rubella presents mild symptoms.
He added that the Measles Rubella vaccine is safe and effective.
The incident manager assured the public of the vaccine’s safety and urged nursing mothers to ensure their children participated in the exercise to improve their health status.
Also speaking, the Director of Disease Control and Immunisation, Hamza Ibrahim Ikara, highlighted that the measles-rubella campaign is a nationwide exercise backed by the federal government and development partners.
Mr Ibrahim Ikara noted that measles and rubella remain significant public health concerns, particularly in communities where vaccination rates are low.
He noted that the state government is committed to delivering essential healthcare to residents, saying that the effectiveness of integrated vaccine had been proven as potent intervention against outbreaks.
According to him, the meeting is geared towards availing journalists with the right information on the Measles Rubella, vaccine for onward dissemination to members of the public.
He noted that misinformation had been the challenge of vaccine uptakes, hence the need for the media engagement.
“We appreciate the support being rendered by media on previous immunisation exercises,” he said.
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“We, therefore, call on them to kindly help sensitise residents, especially mothers and care givers to mobilise their children for this exercise.
In his remark, Ibrahim Adamu, the Supplemental Immunisation Officer with the Primary Health Care Agency, stated that fixed posts would be set up at designated points during the campaign to ensure no eligible child is left behind.
Mr Adamu explained that measles is a contagious disease that could cause fever, cough, and pneumonia, while rubella (German measles) could cause illness in children and adults.
He called on stakeholders, especially journalists, to support the campaign for massive compliance and success.
He said after the campaign, vaccines would be distributed to primary health centres across the state for effective immunisation exercise.
