The Federal Capital Territory and states grappling with issues of insecurity have been asked to engage the services of local vigilante in the vaccination of children living in unsecured terrains.
This is as the World Health Organisation, WHO, has noted that issues of evolving and heightened insecurity, displacement of settlements and rugged terrain, was restricting access to vaccination and creating a pool of unreached children.
To reach bridge this gap, the WHO recommends the engagement of local vigilance teams and resident community members to conduct vaccination activities.
The advice is coming as the Federal Capital Territory Administration, on Saturday, commenced a two-week supplementary polio immunisation campaign to sustain the poliovirus-free status in the FCT and Nigeria.
Coordinator of the World Health Organization in FCT, Dr Kumshida Balami, told a press conference in Abuja that though significant progress has been made in the effort to address the evolving risk of Circulating Vaccine Derived Poliovirus Type-2, CVPV2, in Nigeria, issues of access has kept some children out of reach.
She said part of the strategies being used for the current campaign is the engagement of local vigilance teams and resident community members to conduct vaccination activities.
“The security agencies and traditional leaders were also engaged to confirm the accessibility and habitation of the settlements.
“I encourage us all to maintain the current momentum as we can see the trajectory of cVPV2 suggests that it is possible to interrupt transmission by December 2023”, she said.
Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has said it will embark on a vaccine-for-noodles campaign, to encourage more people present their children for the vaccination exercise.
The WHO had in 2020 certified Nigeria polio-free, however, the Type-2 variant of the virus emerged in 2021.
Although, the FCT is free from both the Wild Polio Virus and the CVPV2, the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat said the exercise is to sustain Nigeria’s polio eradication status.
Acting Secretary of the Health and Human Services Secretariat Malan Haruna, said the strain, if left unattended to, can risk the resurfacing of polio incidence in the country.
“This is why this supplemental exercise of polio immunisation is crucial to curb the virus from spreading.”
Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Isah Vatsa, said the board is targeting about 2.5 million babies for the two-week exercise from July 29 till August 11.
Giving a breakdown, Vasta said, a total of 1.3 million children ages zero to 59 months would be vaccinated with the novel Oral Polio Vaccine, nOPV2, while 1.2 million children, ages six weeks to 59 months, would also be vaccinated with the Fractional Inactivated Polio Vaccine, FIPV.
He said to address cases of vaccine hesitancy, the board has partnered traditional and religious rulers and has also recruited more women to administer the vaccine, especially in settlements where males are not allowed entry into apartments with females.
“For Nigeria to be completely free from polio, we must interrupt the residual risk of all forms of poliovirus and boost routine immunization coverage in the country.
“We have recorded only 14 cases in Nigeria in 2023. Fortunately, there has not been any case in the FCT, but we know that the world is a global village, and the risk of importation of either the wild polio viruses and/or circulating Variant Polio Virus is very high.”
