The Chairperson of Adamawa Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Batulu Mohammed, said cases of rejection of polio vaccines by individuals in the state, had reduced drastically. Mohammed made this known on Thursday in Yola while addressing a rally organised by Journalists Against Polio (JAP), in collaboration with other stakeholders, to mark the 2019 World Polio Day. Mohammed said that current polio immunisation exercises in the state had recorded improvements, with the last one recording 90 per cent success. “Acceptance is now increasing with less resistance and we need to sustain the tempo with intensified awareness campaign through JAP and support from our partners like UNICEF, WHO, CDC, SOML, C4D and others,” she said.

 

Mohammed urged parents to keep availing their children of polio immunisations, adding that the exercise was now being conducted along with Meningitis ‘A’ vaccination. She also lauded the renewed support from the state government, which constituted a State Committee on Immunisation, with the state’s Deputy Governor, Chief Crowther Seth, as Chairman. Mohammed said Nigerians should celebrate for not recording any polio case for the past three years, a development resulting from collaborative efforts of all stakeholders.

 

In his remarks, the Adamawa Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Ishaku Dedan, said the media would continue to support efforts to eradicate polio and other diseases in the society, as part of its social responsibility. Dedan lauded the commitment of the state government and other major stakeholders in areas of health in the state, and assured them of media support. Representatives of WHO, Mr Iyabosa Iginovia, and Adamawa Director of NOA, Mr Sudi Ahmad, who spoke at the occasion, also called for a sustained commitment by all stakeholders in the move to eradicate polio and contain other killer diseases.