Health authorities in Kaugama Local Government Area of Jigawa State have successfully immunised no fewer than 250,750 children against a range of diseases, including Human Papillomavirus, polio, measles, and rubella.
The Local Government Immunisation Officer, Muhammad Tasiu, disclosed this during an interview with journalists on Monday, describing the exercise as a major success in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases in the region.
According to Tasiu, the campaign achieved 105 per cent coverage for measles and rubella vaccination among children aged nine months to 14 years, reaching 99,213 children.
“We exceeded our target in many categories. For measles and rubella alone, we reached over 99,000 children, which is 105 per cent of our expected coverage,” Tasiu said.
He further revealed that 74,401 children between the ages of zero and 23 months were immunised with the novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV), also recording 102 per cent success in coverage. Additionally, the same number of children—74,401—between the ages of zero and 59 months were administered the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV), with similar coverage success.
In a significant move toward combating cervical cancer, the immunisation team also reached 2,735 nine-year-old girls with the HPV vaccine.
“This round of immunisation is part of our ongoing commitment to protect our children from life-threatening diseases,” Tasiu noted. “We are grateful for the support of community leaders, parents, and health workers who made this campaign a success.”
Public health experts have continued to stress the importance of routine immunisation in preventing outbreaks and improving child health outcomes, particularly in underserved regions.
The Jigawa immunisation drive is part of broader national and global efforts to eradicate polio and reduce the incidence of preventable diseases among children and adolescents.
