Cross River First Lady begs mothers, caregivers, others to embrace polio immunization

[From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar]

Wife of the governor of Cross River State, Dr. (Mrs) Linda Ayade has pleaded with mothers and caregivers to embrace this year’s immunization against poliomyelitis. 

She equally urged religious leaders, traditional rulers, parents, schools, churches, and caregivers to support public enlightenment campaigns meant to eradicate Polio Virus Type Two amongst children and reduce childhood diseases.

Dr. Ayade made the appeal in Calabar during the flag-off of the Second Outbreak Response (OBR2) to Circulating Variant Polio Virus.

The flag-off ceremony took place at Aku Nursery and Primary School, Big Qua Town, Calabar Municipal Local Government Area.

Mrs. Ayade, a medical expert, was represented by the Director-General, Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong.

She said that children aged between 0 and 5 years would be administered two drops of the novel polio vaccine Type Two alongside other antigens that are due.

According to her, immunization is crucial to the survival of children against vaccine-preventable diseases.

In her words: “Today we are flagging off the Outbreak Response 2 campaign against the dreaded type2 poliovirus. 

“In this particular campaign, we are targeting children between the ages of 0-5 years. This is because we want to ensure that Cross River State does not record any case of polio.”

“The Outbreak Response campaign affords us the opportunity to ensure that health workers reach out to children in hard-to-reach areas across the state.”

“We are hoping to vaccinate over 900,000 children and we believe that this will afford us the opportunity to ensure that every child is protected against the virus.”

She also mentioned that one of the reasons for the outbreak response was the re-emergence of type2 polio in other parts of the country.

“In Cross River State, we do not have any case of polio and we hope to sustain the status in the state by ensuring that every child is protected against the virus.”

“We have also done border synchronization where people from this other part of the country reach out to other countries to ensure that those who are closed to our borders are also vaccinated.”

“So in this particular campaign, children who are on the other side that is closed to our borders will be also vaccinated. These are measures to ensure that we do not have those diseases crossing into our state.”

She assured that the government of Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade would continue to allocate more resources to ensure a seamless campaign and urged parents and caregivers to ensure that their eligible children are immunized against polio.

On the health effect and financial implication of taking the vaccine, she said “the oral polio vaccine (nopV) is not harmful. It is safe, effective, and given free of charge.”

The Director, Public Health, Cross River State Ministry of Health, Dr. Iwara Iwara, commended the state government for the political will to support immunization in the state, adding that mothers and caregivers should not joke about this opportunity as the issue of vaccination is now a necessity.

On her part, the Director of Immunization and Disease Control who is also the State Immunization Officer, Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (EDSPHCDA), Mrs. Joy Chabo said, “It is imperative to note that polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age. There is no cure for polio. It can only be prevented.