The United Nations Children’s Fund says it has planned to vaccinate no fewer than five million children for immunity against measles and other child-killer diseases in the South West and Edo states.
The parents of children have been urged by the UNICEF Social Behavioural Change Expert, Aderonke Akinola-Adewole, to give their children the vaccination, which will take place for a week. The exercise has been named the weeklong 2024 Integrated Supplemental Immunisation. The exercise would take place in Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun and Edo states beginning on October 5.
It was disclosed that the exercise will be taken by the UNICEF in collaboration with the governments of Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun and Edo states in the different states.
Akinola-Adewole, who spoke on Friday during a one-day zonal media orientation on the Human Papilloma Virus/Polio Supplemental Immunisation Integrated Activity, which the yo State Ministry of Information organised in collaboration with UNICEF for relevant government health officials and media practitioners from the Southwest and Edo states.
The professional noted that it taken seriously immunisation has the power to eradicate killer diseases such as polio, measles, yellow fever, and HPV it was also noted that in the past years the use of vaccines have shown to be very effective in the eradication of some of the public public health diseases such as smallpox, the expert noted that it was import for children to be allowed to be vacinnated from the diseases.
She noted that the myths and misconceptions that have stopped parents from realising their children’s potential were not true, explaining that Vaccines are safe, effective, and free. She also called on the media to help in sensitizing people to the safety and reliability of vaccine use.
While addressing participants in the 2024 Integrated Supplemental Immunisation which will begin in 16 states in the country with the inclusion of the Southwest and Edo states, the expert noted that the vaccination of children are the right of the children noteing that they are life savers.
She explained that when a child is taken for vaccination, the right of the child is fulfilled to survive, noting that it is a responsibility that every parent must take, which will help in the survival of children and help them to excel. She noted that the collaborative efforts were not only targeting the measles campaign, but using the campaign to strengthen routine immunisation where children under the age of two can go to the facilities to get immunized for vaccines that they missed.
Explaining further, she noted that the measles vaccination is for children from nine months to 59 months, and the routine immunisation is for children from 0 – 23 months to give every child a chance to be healthy and thrive.
It was noted that it would go on for a week. She expressed optimism that some states will conduct a two-day mop-up to ensure that no child is missed. The mop-up is essential to capture children who were not captured during the campaign. All facilities remain open across the states to be able to give children the required vaccines that they have.
She noted that the exercise is targeting nothing less than five million children from the Southwest and Edo states. According to her the exercise is looking for a huge number, which is the reason it requires the support of every stakeholder in ensuring that these vaccines get to the right children.
She begged them to support the drive to raise awareness to build vaccine trust and acceptance. She explained that they want the media to help in sensitising against disinformation and misinformation that can limit people’s trust in vaccines.
It was noted that the media have a very wide reach, so we have called for this meeting to leverage your platforms and strength to reach people and convince them about vaccine safety and the importance of getting their children vaccinated, she explained.
All the health officials from the partnering Southwest and Edo states, who had indicated the target number, noted that efforts such as community engagement, street publicity, and media engagements were put in place to ensure the success of the measles campaign.
