Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
About 246 children die of measles daily across the world.
An official of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Adetunji Adeoye, disclosed this while speaking at the flag off ceremony of Introduction of second dose measles into the Regular Immunisation (RI) in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday.
He also disclosed that Nigeria is in the fourth position in the ranking of measles infected countries in the world and third in Africa.
According to him, measles affects ears, brains and eyes of children and eventually kill them.
He said the window was opened for second opportunity for children who couldn’t take first vaccination within age nine months, noting that the exercise would last seven days.
Adeoye enjoined parents to take their children between one day and 23 months to nearby health centres and not to entertain any fear, saying health workers had been trained to administer the vaccine
He added that apart from measles vaccine, children between five and 14 years would be given deworming drug, nothing that health personnel would go to all schools in the state to administer the drug.
Commissioner for Health, Wahab Adegbenro, said over 17,000 cases of measles occurred in Nigeria annually despite huge amount of money expended by government.
The commissioner said the second dose would provide high immunity against measles.
In his remarks, Executive Secretary of Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Francis Akanbiemu, said introduction of Measles Containing Vaccine 2 (MCV2) is not a replacement for MCV1, which is always given to children at nine months old.