By Yunus S Saliu
The Ministry of Health will embark on a countrywide vaccination campaign on Tuesday, November 12th, 2024, with a target of immunizing 426,481 children from 0 to 5 years of age. The exercise will be conducted in two rounds, with the first round starting from 12th to 18th November and the second round starting from 12th to 15th December 2024.
As per the Ministry of Health during a press conference held at the Central Medical Store, Kotu, on Friday, 8th November 2024, the vaccination teams will move from house to house to administer the vaccines to children 0-5 years old. Any eligible child missing during the exercise still has the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“To be vaccinated, parents are therefore urged to take their children to the nearest health facility if they missed it,” because a child not vaccinated can be affected by polio.
Sidiat Fofana, EPI and Polio Program Manager at the Ministry of Health said polio is a disease caused by a germ, which kills or cripples mainly children, noting that it can be transmitted through drinking water or eating food contaminated with feces of an infected person.
So far, he disclosed, there is no cure for polio anywhere but can easily be prevented through vaccination, and the vaccine which is easily administered in droplets through the mouth.
He advised all school heads and teachers especially at the nursery and primary schools to help coordinate their students when carrying out this important exercise when the immunization team visits them. He also urged heads of households especially fathers to give their support in this exercise.
The EPI and Polio Program Manager thanked their partners and everyone for this exercise.
Azizat Amina Sahid, the Risks Communication Officer at WHO urged media personnel to take the campaign seriously by spreading the news across the nooks and crannies of this country for eligible children from 0-5 years to be vaccinated.
She emphasized that the exercise is meant to prevent these young children from poliomyelitis known as polio while calling men, especially fathers to support their wives during this exercise by presenting their eligible children for the vaccination when it commences saying it is going to be a house-to-house campaign.
She expressed gratitude to media personnel saying without them it might be impossible to reach out to everyone.
Jacob Serge Akono, SBC Consultant at UNICEF alluded to previous speakers’ speeches and reiterated UNICEF’s support for the country as it is its mandate to give full support to the vaccination campaign exercise.
He also appealed to everyone to make sure that there is no child left behind in both rounds of the exercise so that polio can be kicked out of The Gambia.
