Fight Against Measles:Lagos Set To Vaccinate Five Million Children

Lagos State Government has announced that the Y2022 Integrated Measles vaccination campaign for children aged 9 to 59 months will take place between Friday 17th and Friday 24th June, and from Monday 27th June to Monday 4th July, 2022, in all 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas of the State.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who made the announcement today at a press briefing to herald the measles vaccination exercise in Lagos State, anticipated that no fewer than five million children would be immunised during the 16-day campaign.

He said: “The Lagos State Government, in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and other development partners, will be conducting an Integrated Measles Campaign across all 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs in the State in line with the National Measles Elimination Strategic Plan 2018-2028”.

Abayomi noted that the forthcoming measles vaccination campaign will be integrated with other primary healthcare services and routine immunisation to improve efficiency and effectiveness, especially at the primary healthcare level, while also providing an opportunity for parents and caregivers to access multiple services at the same time.

“The measles vaccine will be provided to children aged nine to 59 months with Vitamin A supplements for children aged six to 59 months. Routine immunisation services will be available from birth up to 23 months, while COVID vaccination will also be available for adults who are 18 years and above as part of our integrated vaccination campaign approach”, he said.

Explaining that the campaign will be conducted for eight days each in two streams consisting of 10 LGAs and appurtenance LCDAs per stream, Prof. Abayomi said the method would be adopted to maximize resources and ensure that all the eligible members of the population are reached during the campaign.

The Commissioner said, “The first stream will commence on the Friday 17th to Friday 24th of June, 2022, and the participating LGAs are Agege, Ajeromi, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Badagry, Ibeju, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island and Surulere”.

“The second stream will start on Monday 27th of June to Monday 4th of July, 2022, and the remaining LGAs and their appurtenance LCDAs – Apapa, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikeja, Mushin, Oshodi-Isolo, Ojo and Somolu will be covered”, he stated.

While appealing to parents and caregivers to ensure that the target population of children in Lagos receive the measles vaccine and other routine immunisation services during the campaign, Prof. Abayomi noted that the responsibility of vaccinating all eligible children against measles is not that of parents and caregivers alone.

The Commissioner said that everybody, including religious, community and political leaders, have to ensure that children are protected against preventable childhood diseases.“I want to assure the good people of Lagos State that immunisation is SAFE and EFFECTIVE, and I, therefore, call on all Lagosians to take advantage of this mass campaign that will be commencing on the 17th of June 2022”, he said.

Speaking in the same vein, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Ibrahim Mustafa, explained that a total of 1,800 vaccination teams will be available per stream across the LGAs and LCDAs to implement the measles vaccination campaign and other routine immunisation services.

He added that the teams would be available in public and selected private hospitals, schools, clinics in religious houses and houses of influential community leaders in order to reach the eligible population and achieve 100% vaccination coverage.

“To ensure the success of this year’s integrated measles campaign, the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, in collaboration with our development partners, have conducted training sessions for health workers and implementers who will drive the exercise to strengthen their capacity”, the Permanent Secretary stated.