The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on Thursday, said it was targeting no fewer than 1,136,952 children for vaccination against measles during the forthcoming Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and Non Polio Supplemental immunization holding in Ogun State in October, 2024.
The exercise, scheduled to hold between October 5 and 11, will principally capture children of ages between 9 and 59 months as part of UNICEF’s commitment towards protecting children from life-threatening diseases.
This was disclosed on Thursday by UNICEF’s representative in South-West, Mrs. Aderonke Akinola-Akinwole, who spoke in an interview with LEADERSHIP during a one-day Zonal Media Orientation Workshop on HPV/Non Polio Supplemental Immunization (NPSIS) held in Oyo town of Oyo State.
Akinola-Akinwole explained that the more than one million Ogun children were part of the over five million children being targeted by UNICEF for measles immunization in the entire South-Western Nigeria.
Charging the participating media practitioners to step up enlightenment efforts on members of the public on the relevance of immunization, Akinola-Akinwole explained that the vaccination would eradicate diseases which include tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, measles and HPV, among others.
She noted that the workshop was to enlighten parents that the vaccines were safe and free for the children, as well as strengthening the relationship between UNICEF, government and the media and improve the living of the children.
She urged parents to avail their children the opportunity of the free immunization during the vaccination exercise across the country.
“We are aware that, there are myths and misconceptions that debar people from taking the vaccine because it depicts their trust about taking the vaccines. However, we want parents to know that the vaccines are safe and effective and they are free.
“Over the years, we’ve seen that the vaccines have proven to be effective in eradicating small diseases such as smallpox, and so, why do we choose to deny our children from things that can affect them through vaccines? So, by allowing your child to be vaccinated, you have actually increased the survival rate of your children and that is the responsibility of every stakeholder and parents,” she added.
She noted that the workshop was to enlighten parents that the vaccines were safe and free for the children, as well as strengthening the relationship between UNICEF, government and the media and improve the living of the children.
“We are hopeful that this campaign will be very successful, however, we also envisage that there might be rejection and non-compliance from parents to allow their children to be vaccinated.
“We want to assure parents that the vaccines are safe and it is just to increase the immunity of children against measles which is a deadly disease and cause mortality.
“We want them to accept the vaccines for the children because it is a healthy child that makes the society. We are all collaborators in progress: it takes a parent to give birth to a child, but it takes a community and villages to raise a child,” she stressed.
The UNICEF’s representative in South-West, however, commended the Ogun State government for its supports for all their programmes, emphasising that such has being a “partnership that is just not limited to immunization, but to children’s survival.”
“Ogun government has being a supportive partner in ensuring that children’s rights are protected,” she added.
