In a bid to advert the spread of the outbreak of Wild Polio Virus, WPV, in North-East, Borno State precisely, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, August 17, ordered the immediate release of N9.8 billion to fight the disease.
Post-Nigeria, gathered that the development is coming at a time when the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, had on August 12, announced the outbreak of the Wild Polio Virus, WPV, in Borno State.
Adewole, had while confirming the outbreak on 2 children, directed the deployment of a national emergency response team, comprising of government and partners to Borno State, for an immediate and robust polio vaccination campaign, which will be targeted at all vulnerable children, to prevent the spread.
The Minister, noted that Nigerians going for the Hajj pilgrimage, would also undergo compulsory immunization against polio, as one of the conditions for entering the Holy Land.
He said, “Plans are underway to reinforce and intensify immunization of intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.“To this end, adequate supplies of vaccines have been provided at different international port health locations and airports. This is consistent with the International Health Regulations,” Adewole said.
Explaining further, he said the new response plan will include five rounds of polio campaigns, three of which are focused on 18 Northern States, and two to be conducted nationwide.
While giving assurance that funds would not be a challenge, he said, “We have earmarked N9.8 billion for polio and by Monday, the entire N9.8 billion will be released.
“For the sub-national campaigns, 31, 540, 054 children are targeted to be vaccinated each round, with oral vaccines across States in the North-East, North-West and North-Central zones of the country.“For the nationwide response, 56, 363, 618 children will be vaccinated between October and November 2016.“The revised plan was informed by factors such as historical data on WPV affected areas, pattern of transmission over the last five years, population displacement, due to insecurity in the North-East, likelihood of spread of the virus to other neighboring countries and population immunity.“Furthermore, the justification for the expansion of the initial schedule, includes the fact that, given previous history of exportation to other countries and the suboptimal routine immunization coverage in several countries in the African region, the response requires that adequate protection be provided to the vulnerable children at risk of infection.“Reports from the detailed investigation carried out by our team, revealed that both cases came from security compromised areas of Borno State, which have limited access to any form of health services, including immunization,” the Minister said.
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