Polio: Bauchi State Govt. flags off door-to-door campaign

The Bauchi state Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA) has flagged-off a massive door-to-door vaccination campaign against polio virus in the state.

Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, Executive Chairman of BASPHCDA said at the flagging-off ceremony in Gudun Fulani, a community in Bauchi Local Government Area on Saturday that the campaign was part of effort to maintain a polio free status in the state.

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He stated that the agency would ensure that every child from age five and below were captured and vaccinated.

According to him, the state had been enjoying a polio free status for over six years now.

The chairman explained that the reason for the door-to-door campaign was as a result of the low coverage of routine immunisation in some parts of the state, adding that vaccines had been distributed to some strategic locations at the local government level.

“We are here today for the flag-off of the polio campaign in the state; the campaign had started long time ago and we have distributed all the vaccines to all the locations at the local government level.

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“We chose this place for flagging off because of the low coverage of routine immunisation in the area.

“We will make sure that we vaccinate every child in this environment and the whole state because the campaign had been designed to go house-to-house, follow mothers and children in market places, churches and everywhere children from ages five and below are found,” he said.

Mohammed, who appealed to all parents in the state to allow their children to be vaccinated,said there was no polio vaccine overdose; “the more you take it, the better the child is being protected,”.

Also speaking, Alhaji Bako Gamawa, Director, Bauchi Local Government Primary Health Care Development Agency (BALGPHCDA) said, the state government was committed toward the control and prevention of any disease in the state.

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Gamawa called on all the traditional rulers in the state to support the government in an effort to provide health care facilities in the state.

In his remarks, Alhaji Bashir Maidabino, Northeast Zonal Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) urged all the communities in the state to come out en masse to ensure that their children were vaccinated.

“The state is lucky to have a governor that is passionate about health issues of the people of the state,” he said.