Yellow fever: FG to vaccinate 12 million in Adamawa, Rivers

The Federal Government, with support of the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, weekend began vaccination of 12 million people for yellow fever preventive mass vaccination campaign in Anambra and Rivers States.

The vaccination exercise commence in Rivers State. The WHO said the campaign was part of a series of phased preventive campaigns to protect Nigeria from yellow fever.  “It is also part of the global strategy to Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics (EYE) by 2026. Nigeria is a priority country for the EYE Strategy and it is expected that more than almost 160 million Nigerians will be protected against yellow fever by the end of 2026 through preventive mass vaccination campaigns alone,” it stated.

Dr Fiona Braka, WHO Team Lead on the Expanded Programme on Immunization, said WHO was providing technical support at national and state levels to ensure high quality campaign including planning, training of health care workers, supervision of the campaign and vaccination coverage.