The Benue State Government has vaccinated more than 300 children against Measles-Rubella (MR) and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) at the temporary Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp hosting persons displaced from Yelewata.
The IDPs are currently taking shelter at the premises of the Makurdi International Market.
The vaccination is part of a large-scale, integrated immunisation campaign aimed at protecting children against measles, rubella, polio, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and other preventable diseases.
Mrs. Benedicta Aboh, Chief Supervisor of the Integrated Vaccination Campaign Fixed Team, told journalists on Sunday in Makurdi that the exercise commenced on Saturday.
Although her team operates in Guma Local Government Area, she said the Yelewata IDPs fall within their coverage area, hence the outreach to the camp.
Aboh disclosed that more than 250 children were vaccinated on the first day. She added that the team administered:
Routine immunisation for children aged 0–23 months
Measles-Rubella vaccine for ages 9 months to 14 years
OPV for children aged 0–59 months
HPV vaccine for girls aged 9 years
Drugs for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC)
She noted that no case of vaccine refusal or zero-dose child had been recorded so far, and more rounds of immunisation would be conducted due to the large turnout.
Also speaking, the State Immunisation Officer, Mr. Innocent Adega, said the state had received 2.7 million doses of MR and 2.3 million doses of OPV vaccines for the exercise.
Adega explained that the integrated campaign also involves administering other routine vaccines across all 23 local government areas.
He said a total of 1,110 fixed teams and 1,274 sweep (house-to-house) teams were deployed across the state.
The exercise, which started on October 18, will run until October 27, with two additional mop-up days.
Adega confirmed that the programme has been running smoothly, with no major challenges reported.
