Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (EDSPHCDA), World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF are soliciting the assistance of its social mobilization group to help give the forthcoming second round of oral polio vaccination exercise a massive awareness campaign to achieve adequate coverage of the disease.
Making the appeal, Executive Secretary of the Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Coulson Osoikhia, noted that polio is a dangerous disease that affects children below five years.
She observed that Nigeria achieved a wild poliovirus-free certification in August 2020, but sadly some states are still detecting cases of the disease and isolating another variant of the poliovirus from both human and environmental sources; hence the need for all hands to be on deck to eliminate the disease.
Dr. Osoikhia, who was represented by the Reproductive Health Coordinator, Mrs. Adesuwa Omorere, solicited the assistance of traditional leaders and religious leaders in disseminating the information to their people, who have established trust in them.
The health expert called on educational leaders, security officials, and the media to do more advocacy to enable heads of schools and parents to give access to health workers to vaccinate children under them.
According to Dr. Osoikhia, there has been reluctance to vaccination since the Covid era because some medical professionals have encountered opposition in certain vulnerable areas, such as Iyekogba and Sapele Road.
He called on the media to carry out massive jingles to help spread the message that vaccines are safe and effective as well as to dispel myths and misinformation surrounding vaccine intake.
He said health workers will be visiting house to house, schools, crèches, churches, mosques, markets, barracks, motor parks, and other strategic places in the state to give the vaccine.
The second round of National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) is billed to be held from the 28th of June to the 3rd of July this year.
