By Emmanuel Oluwakorede, Lokoja
As the World commemorates this year’s Immunization Week, Stakeholders in Kogi State have advocated more Sensitization to achieve more success in immunization programmes.
The World Immunization Week is a global health campaign celebrated annually in the last week of April and for this year, it is from twenty sixth to twenty ninth.
The week is aimed at promoting vaccination and immunization against infectious diseases Measles, Polio, Influenza, HPV and COVID-19.
In Kogi State, Vaccinators were seen visiting Parks, places of worship, Schools, Houses to administer the vaccines.
A Vaccinator in Ward A, Lokoja Local Government Area, Miss Isah Talatu Ohize said the compliance for this year’s exercise is better than the previous ones, stressing the need for more awareness to achieve more feats.
Talatu noted that despite the fact that Immunization remains a key factor to save lives, some people are not complying.
A Caregiver and Founder of Rehoboth Children’s Home, Mrs. Modupe Olaitan explained that Immunization is best for the children as it is protective.
“Immunization is good, is the best for our children because it is protective and is better to protect than to begin to run around, looking for solutions when problems comes.
“The house-to-house immunization saves parents and caregivers a lot of stress. Taking the children to the clinic which may at times be far away from where they are living. It is commendable and the frequency shows that the government and its Partners like UNICEF care for children, Mrs. Olaitan added.
A Mother, Mrs. Mary Abuh whose daughter was vaccinated, said immunization is important as it helps in the growth of the child without fear of any killer disease.
The Kogi State Immunization Officer, Mrs. Apeh Ajuma expressed satisfaction with the exercise, saying out of the over 1.4 million children targeted for vaccination, over 1.086 million children between ages 0-59 Months have been vaccinated across the State against polio.
According to her, through the health of Traditional Rulers, Locals and Vigilantes, the Teams were able to reach insecure settlements where more than 12,268 children were vaccinated with 102 cases of non compliance resolved.
Mrs. Apeh pointed out that the feat was achieved due to effective social mobilization activities such as engaging stakeholders at the State and Local Government levels as well as involvement of Traditional Rulers.
