The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr.Tomi Coker, on Thursday said that the state is targeting to vaccinate 1,136,953 children aged between nine and 59 months across the 20 local governments during the 7-day Integrated Measles Campaign which kicks off on Saturday.
Coker disclosed this at a press briefing held at the conference hall of the Ministry of Health, Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
The commissioner described measles as a highly contagious, airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to blindness, severe complications and death and that its vaccination had helped to avert 57 million deaths globally between 2000 and 2022
She said though, a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available to tackle the viral disease, noting that there were an estimated 136,000 measles deaths globally mostly among the unvaccinated or undervaccinated children under the age of 5 years in 2022.
The commissioner said as a way of contributing to the global reduction of measles, the state government through Integrated Measles and Yellow Fever Campaign exercise held in 2022 vaccinated 1,047,150 children aged 9 months to 59 months against measles while 5,594,968 children aged between 9 months and 59 months and adults from 5 years to 49 years were vaccinated against Yellow Fever across the 20 local governments.
Coker said that this campaign conducted two years ago led to a marked reduction in the number of confirmed Measles cases from 118 as of October 2022 to 15 in the same period in 2024 while Yellow Fever confirmed cases from three in October 2022 came to 0 confirmed case within the same period this year.
The commissioner said “The measles campaign this year is targeting, approximately 1,136,953 children 9 months to 59 months spread across the 20 LGs from the 19″ to 25” October 2024.
“Over 5,000 health workers will be deployed in teams to various posts during the 7 days of the campaign. I would also like to inform us that the campaign will involve the use of Government Health Facilities (Primary Secondary and Tertiary), churches, mosques, market, schools, parks and garages, and other designated temporary fixed posts.
“The state government has also provided funds to ensure children in hard to hard-to-reach/difficult terrains in the various local government are not left out of this campaign.
“Over a million doses of measles vaccines, immunization cards and syringes have been received from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and have been distributed to the various local government health authority cold stores for the exercise which will begin on the 19th of October 2024”.
Coker explained that the campaign will be flagged off on Friday at Saint Peters Anglican Primary School Siun in Obafemi Owode Local Government of the state.
The Commissioner has therefore appealed to parents, guardians and caregivers to take advantage of the campaign by taking their children (9 months to 59 months) to the designated centres across the 236 wards of the 20 Local Governments of the state to get their children vaccinated against this killer but preventable disease describing the vaccine as safe, effective and free of charge.
Coker hailed Gov Dapo Abiodun as a true loving father indeed, particularly for his unrelenting support to the health sector, most especially immunisation services in the state as well as other partners for their technical and financial support to all health programs in the state
