×

Polio: Kaduna Targets 3 Million Children For Immunisation

The Kaduna State government has urged parents to present their children under the age of five for immunisation against Polio or face prosecution. Announcing the … Continue reading Polio: Kaduna Targets 3 Million Children For Immunisation


Polio immunisation in NigeriaThe Kaduna State government has urged parents to present their children under the age of five for immunisation against Polio or face prosecution.

Announcing the state’s decision on the ongoing vaccination exercise, the State Commissioner for Health Services, Dr. Paul Dogo, told Channels Television that the door to door immunisation campaign would ensure that Kaduna was free from polio and other child killer diseases.

While reminding parents that the vaccination was compulsory, Dr. Dogo emphasised that the aim was to ensure that at least three million children across the 23 local government areas of the state were immunised during the exercise.

Kaduna State last recorded polio outbreak in 2012. Since then, the state government had embarked on series of campaigns to ensure that the disease is completely wiped out of the state.

Sadly, as another round of immunisation commences, a major challenge being faced by health officials is the unwillingness of some parents to allow their children to be immunised.

Being Polio-free

While commending parents, religious and traditional institutions in the state for their support in previous immunisation campaign, the Commissioner said the government would not tolerate a situation where the laxity of some parents would expose their children to a bleak future.

He also said that a team of vaccinators had been deployed to work with Federal Road Safety officials at partial roadblocks to vaccinate children on transit along the highways.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had urged Nigeria to strengthen its routine immunisation in the northeast to avoid a resurgence of polio cases before the country attains a polio-free status in 2017.

WHO Director on Polio Eradication, Mr Hamid Jafari, gave the advice at a meeting to review strategies toward eradicating polio in Nigeria.

According to him, the number of children missed during immunisation in the north-east could be a big challenge standing Nigeria’s way to attaining the polio-free status if left unchecked.

Last month, Nigeria marked one year of polio interruption, raising hope that it will soon be removed from the list of endemic countries by WHO.


To ensure the nation meets the 2017 declaration date, President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2015 met with Governors of Polio vulnerable states in Nigeria, reaffirming the government’s commitment to ensuring that Nigeria is finally certified ‘polio-free’ by 2017.

He urged all Nigerians to join hands with the Federal Government to achieve the objective.

At separate meetings with the governors and members of the high-level advocacy group, President Buhari stressed that to become permanently polio-free, Nigeria must build on its achievement of being polio-free for 12 months which was marked in July.