The Federal Government is set to resume vaccination of at least 30 million Nigerians across seven (states) of the federation, against the Yellow Fever (YF) disease, amidst the challenges from COVID-19 pandemic.
With support from the World Health Organization (WHO), CDC, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the vaccination will be relaunched in Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Delta, Osun, Ondo, and Oyo, and the pending 2019 Phase 3 YF campaign in Anambra state will be completed.
According to a statement by the WHO in Abuja, to enable safe implementation in the COVID-19 context, personal protective equipment (PPE), an enhanced infection prevention control measures have been assured by a collaborative initiative and agile support of the State Ministries of Health, CDC, and World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme, and funding from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
This will be followed by further YF vaccination efforts between 2021-2022 which will target more than 95 million persons as part of the push to eliminate yellow fever epidemics.
The 10-day YF campaign in Anambra is scheduled to kick off on the 16th of October while the phase 4 states are scheduled to start on the 20th of November 2020.
These campaigns are to be implemented in accordance with the WHO guidelines for the implementation of mass campaigns in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the use of PPEs and infection prevention control strategies as recommended.
According to the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, “while COVID-19 remains a pressing priority, we are pleased to be able to safely relaunch life-protecting vaccination campaigns against yellow fever this week. Almost 30 million Nigerians will be protected for life from these campaigns in coming months – a remarkable achievement by our health care workers and communities.
“We encourage all eligible persons in the state to come forward and get vaccinated. Yellow fever outbreaks have re-emerged as a serious public health concern since September 2017. The upcoming campaigns will help stop outbreaks and save lives.”
