Ondo govt. harps on child immunisation COVID-19 vaccination

The Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (OSPHCDA) has restated the need for child routine immunisation and COVID-19 vaccination in the state.

Dr Francis Akanbiemu, Permanent Secretary, OSPHCDA, while speaking at an update on routine immunisation and COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday in Akure, said that routine immunisation for children was mandatory to prevent dreaded diseases among them.

Akanbiemu, represented by Dr Samuel Abiona, Director of Community Health Services and Education, OSPHCDA, said the immunisation, if taken appropriately, would save mothers from unwarranted worries and money spending.

He said that COVID-19 was yet to be over, hence the need to take the vaccine in fullness, adding that a large number of residents of the state were yet to take the vaccine.

The permanent secretary appreciated efforts by the media, religious/women leaders and health workers in educating the residents on the importance of immunisation, saying that more was yet to be done.

Speaking on child immunisation and COVID-19 vaccination performance in the state, Mrs Comfort Olagundoye, the State Immunisation Officer of the agency, said the state came first in measles vaccination in the South-West in 2022.

She said that the state also performed creditably in child routine immunisation, and attributed the success to support received by the agency from stakeholders.

Olagundoye, who said that the state had been in the forefront on the track of health performance, charged the agency and stakeholders to address areas that might impede on the successes so far recorded.

She advised mothers to always make their children available for routine immunisation in the first 15 months of their birth.

According to her, the immunisation used to be for children of age 0 to 5 months, but has been extended to 15 months to enable children have the second doze of the measles vaccination.

Olagundoye, however, decried the low COVID-19 vaccination level recorded in the state in recent times.

She expressed displeasure that people who were yet to take the first vaccine dose kept increasing, while those for the second and booster doses had refused to take them.

The immunisation officer assured the people that the vaccine was available in all healthcare facilities in the state.