By Abdullahi Ahmed (Ilorin)

Another round of the Polio Immunization campaign for children under the age of five is to commence in Kwara State.

The exercise, which is second in series for the year, is expected to cover all the nooks and crannies of the state, beginning from Saturday 20th to Tuesday, 23rd April, 2024.

At a press briefing in Ilorin, the Executive Secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Nusirat Elelu, said at least 2,034 vaccination teams will be going from house-to-house to carry out the exercise.

Dr Elelu said all children 0-5 years are expected to be vaccinated irrespective of their previous vaccination status.

She called on parents, religious bodies and schools to get the target children vaccinated within the stipulated time, adding that the vaccine is safe and effective.

According to Dr Elelu, poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age, and that the virus can be transmitted through the fecal-oral route or, less frequently, by contaminated water or food.

She said though Nigeria has been certified polio free, there is however the need to sustain the gains by ensuring that the most at risk group is protected by boosting population immunity of eligible children through supplementary and routine immunization activities.

The Executive Secretary also said that the state government would continue to partner the development partners, such as WHO, UNICEF and NPHCDA to sustain the polio-free status of the country.

She explained that the agency recorded a huge success during the last polio campaign, which she said had covered at least 1.5 million children within the age bracket across all communities in the state.

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