5th March, 2018
The Enugu State Government on Monday said it would immunise no fewer than five thousand children between the ages of nine and 52 months against measles in March.
Mr Fabian Nebo, the Enugu State Primary Healthcare Educator, made this known at a news conference in Enugu.
Nebo said that 5, 436 children under the age of five, representing 17 per cent of the state population, would be administered with the vaccine.
“Every child between the ages of nine months and 52 months across the 17 local government areas of the state will receive the vaccine this month,” he said.
Nebo called on the media to play effective role in the support of the campaign to make every mother realise the importance of the measles vaccination.
Also, Mr Hillary Agbo, the Executive Secretary of Enugu State Primary Healthcare, called on the media to support the awareness creation of the vaccination campaign in all the council areas of the state.
Agbo said no child would be left out, adding that a situation where people bought vaccines from the medicine stores or markets would no longer be tolerated.
He said that each vaccine has a particular temperature level to sustain its effectiveness and durability.
Agbo added that the temperature requires by vaccine starts from its production stage till it gets to the consumers.
According to him, once it is out of its temperature level, it will be ineffective.
Also, Dr Ugochukwu Nwokoro, the state Measles Project Consultant, said in spite of the routine immunisation, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other developmental partners came up with measles vaccination of every two to three years.
Nwokoro said that this was to boost the immunity of such group of children.
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He added that Enugu had made adequate arrangement to ensure that every child under the age of five was vaccinated, describing the vaccine as safe and free.
In his comments, Dr Udodiri Madu, the state Immunisation Officer, explained that measles was a highly contagious disease caused by measles virus.
Madu said the peak of its transmission season was between October and March, adding that measles mortality was more amongst children under the age of five.
According to the immunisation officer, more than 95 per cent of deaths by measles occur in malnourished children under age five.
He identified the symptoms to include, high fever that last for one to seven days, running nose, barking cough, red and watery eyes, inflamed tonsil furred tongs, severe diarrhea leading to severe dehydration, which eventually leads to death.
Madu said that the measles virus could only be prevented with the help of the measles vaccination at no cost.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Fintain Ekochin, would announce the commencement date of the vaccination in the state.