The Nigerian government with support from the World Health Organisation, WHO, and other aid partners has launched a mass vaccination campaign to prevent the spread of yellow fever in the country. According to the WHO, more than 25 million people will be vaccinated this year in the planned campaign, which it declared is going to be the largest yellow fever vaccination drive in the country’s history.
The organisation declared that the immunisation plan, which kicked off at designated centers in Abuja at the weekend, is part of its efforts to eliminate yellow fever epidemics globally by 2026. It said the preventive campaign will use vaccines funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and will be supported by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said at the weekend that the exercise would begin today in Kogi, Kwara and Zamfara states, and then move to Borno state where it will focus on camps for internally displaced persons and surrounding host communities. Dr. Shuaib said, “More than 8.6 million people will be vaccinated in the four states in the coming days. The goal of the campaign is to reduce yellow fever transmission by achieving 90 per cent coverage in implementing states and local government areas in line with the strategy for the elimination of yellow fever epidemics by 2026”.
Yellow fever, as defined by the WHO, is a vaccine-preventable acute viral hemorrhage disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The current yellow fever outbreak in Nigeria began in Ifelodun, Kwara State, in September 2017. By early January 2018, a total of 358 suspected cases had been reported in 16 states, with 45 deaths.
According to the WHO, “In late 2017, Nigeria vaccinated more than three million people in an initial emergency yellow fever vaccination campaign with the aim of quickly containing the outbreak. However, the yellow fever virus continues to circulate in different parts of the country where people remain largely unprotected.”
The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Wondi Alemu, said the organisation is supporting the vaccine drive by training thousands of healthcare workers on how to administer the vaccine; helping to track cases of yellow fever and providing coordination and logistical support for the highly complex operation.
