Sanwo-Olu praised Towards Smooth Running Of The Health care Board, As Over 3.5 Million Lagos Children Are Well Vaccinated In The Last Campaign Exercise
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has been deeply praised and commended by the Lagos State Primary Health care board for standing solidly behind the agency to ensure success in the 2024 Supplemental Immunization Exercise.
This was revealed on Tuesday 14th January 2024 during the media briefing on November Supplemental Immunization Activities, And The Polio Outbreak Response In Lagos State, held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa Secretariat Ikeja.
Speaking at the Conference, the Host and the Supervising Permanent Secretary of Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Abimbola Bowale expressed, that out of the 3 areas of vaccinations exercise in the state, that over 3.5 million children were carefully vaccinated on Measles diseases, from the Ages between 9months and 59 months.
Also, over 20 million individuals in the same exercise, were vaccinated on the symptoms of yellow fever, with the Ages between 9 months to 44 years old Adults.
While he explained further, that the Lagos State government has been so committed to make the Human pappiloma virus(HpV) treatment it’s routine, and thereby focus on the Girls only by vaccinating over 165,000 vaccinations on Girls, at the age between 9 years to 14 years old.
Saying that in some countries, the Boys are not excluded in the vaccination exercise, but the Lagos State being unique, however started first with girls in the vaccination exercise and it has been going on for several years in Nigeria. He said.
Meanwhile, today we can hardly see people paralyzed so fast in Nigeria simply because of the effectiveness of the polio vaccinations in Nigeria.
Therefore, he urged Lagosians to become so cooperative enough to embrace the immunization exercise whenever the government rolls out the polio vaccinations exercise in the country.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health care matters, Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi informed during her Address, that the Outbreak Response will hold between Saturday 18th January to Tuesday 22nd, year 2025.
Again, she advised everyone to continue to prioritize immunization as a crucial pillar of our health care system, and strive to create a healthier, stronger and more resilient Lagos State for all.
She reminisced over the support of the last exercise, which The Residents’ collaboration significantly enhanced the campaign’s impact.
She appreciated the citizens of Lagos State for their active participation and cooperation in making this campaign a success.
Also, the Immunization Unit for their doggedness, relentlessness and resilience despite all the challenges in pushing on and making the campaign a success.
She thanked the Almighty God for the strength and guidance provided throughout the endeavor.
The campaign is a powerful reminder that by working together, we can achieve remarkable results in improving public health.
As they say, the reward for hard work is more work.
The safe guarding of the lives of Lagosians remains a priority of the Lagos State Government, and to continue to ensure that the State remains free from the burden of all Vaccine Preventable Diseases, the Lagos State Government, in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, will implement a Polio Outbreak Response in all LGAs and LCDAs in a bid to maintain the country’s polio-free status following the certification received in August 2020.
The campaign is necessary to prevent a setback in our laudable achievements if the virus is not properly curtailed and it is important to maintain the country’s polio-free status.
Please remember the country achieved a free wild polio-virus (WPS) certification in August 2020
Sadly, some states are still detecting cases and isolating another variant of polio-virus from both human and environmental sources.
If we become complacent, the entire country is vulnerable to reinfection by the wild polio-virus, especially with a recent outbreak of wild polio-virus type 1 in Malawi and Mozambique.
She added, that every state must maintain its zero WPV status and halt the transmission of circulating variant polio-virus type 2 (cVPV2)by conducting high-quality campaigns and improving routine immunization coverage to ensure high population immunity as a deterrent against any reinfection of the wild polio-virus