The Kaduna State Government has announced a large-scale immunisation campaign targeting over five million children across all 23 local government areas.
According to Dr Abdullahi Musa, the State Incident Manager at the Primary Health Care Development Agency, the campaign will focus on protecting children from measles, rubella, and polio. Speaking at a media orientation session held at the Primary Health Care Board in Kaduna on Thursday, Musa emphasised the importance of the vaccination drive in reducing the prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases.
He added that this mass immunisation effort is a crucial step towards improving child health outcomes and achieving herd immunity within the state.
The exercise, which will run from 16 to 27 October, is part of a nationwide effort to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases and to strengthen the country’s public healthcare system. The State Primary Health Care Agency will adopt an integrated vaccination campaign approach to ensure that five million children and adolescents are vaccinated against rubella, measles, and polio.
The campaign targets children aged 9 months to 14 years, citing the negative effects of measles and rubella among children during the upcoming integrated supplemental immunisation activities. Musa noted that the integrated immunisation approach is more potent, cost-effective, and highly efficient. He expressed satisfaction with the integrated vaccine, similar to routine vaccines, for its safety.
He also said the combination of measles and rubella vaccines significantly improves the efficacy of immunisation, raising protection levels from 85 per cent to 95 per cent. “Measles and rubella are different viruses that manifest similar symptoms, except that rubella presents mild symptoms,” he added.
The Measles-Rubella vaccine is safe and provides effective protection against both diseases, the incident manager assured. He urged nursing mothers to ensure their children participate in the exercise to improve their health status.
Also speaking, the Director of Disease Control and Immunisation, Hamza Ibrahim Ikara, highlighted that the measles-rubella campaign is a nationwide exercise supported by the Federal Government and development partners.
He noted that measles and rubella remain significant public health concerns, particularly in communities with low vaccination rates. The state government is committed to delivering essential healthcare to residents, and the effectiveness of the integrated vaccine has been proven as a potent intervention against outbreaks.
According to him, the media orientation session is designed to provide journalists with accurate information on the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine for onward dissemination to the public. He stressed that misinformation has been a major challenge to vaccine uptake, hence the need for media engagement.
He urged journalists to intensify efforts to eradicate measles and rubella through awareness campaigns across the state. “We appreciate the support previously provided by the media on immunisation exercises,” he said. “We therefore call on them to help sensitise residents, especially mothers and caregivers, to mobilise their children for this exercise.”
In a remark, Ibrahim Adamu, the Supplemental Immunisation Officer with the Primary Health Care Agency, stated that fixed posts would be set up at designated points during the campaign to ensure no eligible child is left behind.
Adamu explained that measles is a contagious disease that can cause fever, cough, and pneumonia, while rubella (German measles) can cause illness in both children and adults. He called on stakeholders, especially journalists, to support the campaign for widespread compliance and success.
He added that after the campaign, vaccines would be distributed to primary health centres across the state to ensure an effective immunisation exercise.
