Ekiti State Government has urged critical stakeholders including health educators, education stakeholders and the media to create adequate awareness among the various communities in the state to ensure the success of the forthcoming immunization exercise scheduled to commence on Saturday.
In a separate engagement held in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, where relevant stakeholders converged to discuss the conduct of the exercise, the state Immunization Officer (SIO), Mrs. Omolabake Ogundola said the exercise tagged “Big Catch Up” will run in 7 local governments for six days beginning from Saturday 14th to Thursday 19th December, 2024.
Mrs. Ogundola listed the local governments to include Ado Ekiti, Ikere, Irepodun/ Ifelodun, Ekiti West, Ido – Osi, Gbonyin and Ikole, adding that the immunization exercise will take place in all the primary health facilities and other designated field posts across the aforementioned local governments.
She urged parents and guardians of children within the age group of zero to 59 months, particularly those that had missed their previous immunizations to bring them up for the exercise in order to protect them from deadly diseases.
Ogundola who emphasized the importance of the exercise, reiterated government’s commitments and efforts of the agency towards safety of lives of children through regular vaccinations, stressing that the aim of the exercise was to protect the future of our children and the entire society.
According to the SIO, the reason for selecting the 7 local governments was because they have the largest number of non – vaccinated children , stating that the immunization will commence with them and later it will upscale to other local governments.
She urged the people in the affected local governments to take advantage of the exercise to protect their children and wards against deadly communicable diseases for their wellness and that of the society at large.
Mrs. Ogundola mentioned the strategies set in motion during the immunization to include fixed posts, outreach session and mobile to ensure that all children within the targeted age groups are captured including those living in areas prone to security issues.
Also speaking, the State Heath Educator, Mrs. Ologuntoye said the engagement of stakeholders on the conduct of the exercise was to ensure its full coverage and success.
She advised that during the exercise, there was going to be the last chance for girls of age zero to 14 years who missed the recently conducted Human Pappilona Virus (HPV) vaccinations.
Ologuntoye said the vaccines are safe, effective and free, therefore pleading with parents to make their children available for the exercise, particularly those that had missed their doses in the past.