By Rauf Oyewole
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Plateau State Primary Health Care Development Board has targeted 162,000 children who have missed their routine vaccines.
The UN Agency is scouting for children who are yet to complete their vaccines in 200 local government areas in the country. Plateau, one of the states with zero dose children has eight of its councils being targeted for the ‘Big Catch-up Immunisation’ exercise.
A Health Officer at the UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Patrick Akor, while speaking during the ongoing immunisation said that zero dose children are the kids without pental vaccines at the age of 12 and 23 months.
He said: “We are also targeting 162,000 children age 0-59 months who are either yet to receive or incomplete doses. This also includes children under one who are due to take another vaccine. We are looking for 26,000 under immunised children.”
The Guardian observed that the immunisation teams were deployed to Jos North and South local government in Jos metropolis where vaccines were taken to households and schools to scout for zero dose children.
Akor urged the parents and caregivers to take their children out for immunisation, saying that “a healthy child is the future of Nigerian children. A healthy child who go school and attain his or full potential.”
One of the caregivers, Usman Salamatu of Rikkos, Jos North, whose ward of three years missed routine immunisation was given the catch-up vaccines, said that the biological mother of the girl could not explain the child missed her doses. “I'm very glad that she has received the vaccines and my mine is settled,” she said.
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