FCTA urges residents to embrace Polio vaccination
NAN-HG-11
Polio
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, April 6, 2017 (NAN) Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board, has called on residents to embrace polio immunisation.
Mohammed made the appeal while fielding questions from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the current routine vaccination on Thursday in Abuja.
He decried the rejection of vaccination against polio by some schools and worship places in the FCT.
According to him, the routine immunisation was designed to combat further spread of the disease in the territory.
The scribe regretted that the non-compliance could bring a set back to the exercise.
Mohammed noted that some conventional and Islamic schools as well as churches in FCT rejected the vaccines in the just concluded March round immunisation against polio myelitis.
According to him, those who rejected the vaccine claimed that the immunisation was becoming too frequent, saying their kids had taken enough.
The secretary therefore urged parents to cooperate with the officials and continue to accept the vaccination because there was no overdose.
Mohammed said that though there was no fresh case of polio in the FCT as of now, but the vaccination became necessary due to the outbreak recorded in Borno sometime last year.
“This routine exercise is good for our children because we still have IDPs coming from Borno state to the territory.
“The FCT Minister had been intimated about the development and he ordered that schools in the FCT should henceforth comply and accept the vaccines.
“We also met with traditional rulers and religious leaders to seek for their cooperation in addressing the problem of non-compliance,” he said.
The also said that some foreign nationals who rejected the polio vaccines claimed that their children had taken the vaccine from their countries.
Mohammed said that about 879,725 eligible children were immunised in the just concluded exercise.
He added that in spite of the rejection, his team was able to achieve 97 per cent coverage in the territory. (NAN)
MS/HS/MST
Edited by Halima Sheji/Muhammad Suleiman Tola