Lagos 5 Million Children Vaccination: Ogunlewe Jumps On Sanwo-Olu’s Campaign Flagoff 

The Executive Chairman of Kosofe Local Government, Barrister Moyosore Ogunlewe, on Thursday, hosted the Wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, to flag off the 2022 Integrated Measles Vaccination Campaign.

The Kosofe Local Government chairman implored all community leaders to take advantage of the campaign to inform their communities.

Ogunlewe further reeled out some of his achievements in the health sector to the public, he noted that in less than a year, he had been able to provide a new ambulance and launched a programme called Kosofe Cares for age six and above. He further noted that his administration had dewormed children and pupils in all primary schools and had partnered with Access Bank to build a new Health Centre in Oworonshoki, which would be launched soon.

The Wife of Lagos State Governor, noted that the campaign was done every three years and it was recommended by the World Health Organisation and National Primary Healthcare Agency as one of the main strategies to eliminate the virus. She said that the campaign which would commence on Friday, 17^th of June would run through to Monday 4^th of July, while reminding Lagosians that measles is highly contagious and vaccine is preventable.

She said that the campaign would be conducted for eight days to maximise their resources and to ensure the reach to all eligible four million children population during this period.

”The first batch is between June 17 to June 24 and the local governments that are in this category are, Agege, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Badagry, Ibeju Lekki, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island and Surulere.

“The second batch will start from June 27 and run till July 4 in Apapa, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Mushin, Oshodi-Isolo, Ojo and Shomolu.

“A total of 8,100 vaccination teams will be available per stream across the 57 LGAs and LCDAs in the state,” she said.

Sanwo-Olu noted that most of the children contracted the illness from other children that had a high fever, cough, runny nose, and redness of the eyes.

According to her, sometimes, parents leave their babies at the daycare centre; they play with one another and contracted these infections.

The first lady, however, said prevention is better than cure.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi said this campaign would be integrated with other services to improve efficiency and effectiveness, especially at the primary healthcare level.

Abayomi, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Segun Ogboye said that parents and caregivers could access multiple services at the same time.

The commissioner noted that the measles vaccine, vitamin A and polio vaccine would be given to the children free of charge.

“The measles vaccine is for nine months to 59 months; the vitamin A is for six months to five years; while Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) is for zero to five years.

“Other immunisation services will also be available from birth to 23 months.

“The teams will be providing the services mentioned above: measles vaccination, vitamins A supplement, routine immunisation and COVID -19 vaccination.

“They will be available at both public and private hospitals, schools, clinics, religious houses, houses of influential community leaders, all in a bid to reach the eligible population and achieve a 100 per cent coverage,’’ the commissioner said.

Abayomi said in Lagos State, there were 22 million population and still counting, saying that the Integrative, Innovative and Impact (III) approaches would be adopted.

He said with this approach, the state would be recruiting 30,000 health workers to help immunise the four million children in the state.

Also, the World Health Organisation Team Lead, Lagos Office, Dr Ahmed Kadiri said the United Nations promoted the well-being of individuals and this campaign was to support Nigeria in her universal health coverage.

Kadiri said he was optimistic that the campaign team would deliver a good job in vaccinating the targeted children.

In his speech, the Chief of Health, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Dr Ewdard Blanko, noted that the campaign was the first if its kind because measles, polio, COVID -19, vitamin A were integrated together.

Blanko explained that the campaign was bringing efficiency and a new way of eliminating the virus in the country.

According to him, the campaign will bring impact, which will target four million children from zero to five years old.

He said 4.7 million children were expected to get vaccinated against polio and more than 1.7 million children were expected to get the COVID -19 vaccination.