The Lagos State Government, in collaboration with its development partners like World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and others, today commenced another round of house-to-house Polio Outbreak Response across the 57 Local Government Areas/Local Council Development Areas of the state.
In a statement announcing the commencement of the exercise, the Permanent Secretary at the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Ibrahim Mustafa, explained that the purpose of the exercise is to give two drops of the Novel Oral Polio vaccine to all children aged zero to five years, irrespective of their previous immunisation status.
During the exercise, according to Dr. Mustafa, Vitamin A supplement will be administered orally to children aged six months to five years while deworming tablets will be given to children aged one to five years.
Also, all children under five will be screened for malnutrition using MUAC tapes.
All facilities where children could be found including primary health centres, hospitals, houses, schools, churches, mosques, markets, shopping malls, playgrounds and gated estates, among others, he said, would be visited without exception during the exercise which is expected to hold from July 22-25.
The vaccination exercise is designed to boost the immunity of the target group against the circulating poliovirus.
While he enjoined Lagos residents to cooperate with the government officials during the exercise by making their children available in order to eradicate other forms of Circulating Poliovirus (CVPV2) currently in some areas of the State, Dr. Mustafa assured that the Polio vaccine is not only safe but also free and very effective.
