Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Chairman, Nigeria National Polioplus Committee, Dr. Tunji Funsho, said that the fight against polio suffered set back some years ago because some people kicked against polio vaccination because wrong information they were fed with.

He said that some of them, especially the uneducated people in rural communities thought that the vaccine was a birth control measure, hence the unfriendly reactions against the field officers.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, on the occasion of Nigeria being declared polio-free country by the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Funsho, attributed the hiccups experienced in the cause of the fight against Polio particularly in the administration of vaccines to misinformation allegedly championed by people that command loyalty and respect in communities.

He said: “In addition to that, the vaccines were not accepted by the people at some point because we were always available, begging and knocking at their doors to take the vaccines which is free.

“Meanwhile, they observed that it was difficult for them to get chloroquine in nearby health centres whenever they suffer Malaria or other ailments, in addition to unavailability of clean drinking water and other basic amenities in their environment.

“Regularly when our field officers visit communities for immunisation purposes, they organize head counts, comprising health workers to ascertain the availability of manpower in the facilities. We use that opportunity to administer vaccines to children of under the age of five that came with their mothers.”

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He said that Polioplus which is a programme of the Rotary International against Polio in Nigeria contributed greatly to the success of the fight against polio which culminated in Nigeria being declared a polio free country.

He recalled that In 2013, six health workers engaged in immunisation were killed in Kano by some angry mob when a radio station announced that oral polio vaccine being administered was for birth control.

He said: “Sometimes in 2001, there was misleading information in the media about the safety of the oral polio vaccine. Some northern political leaders quickly jump to it and that led to the boycott of polio immunisation, particularly in some seven states in the north between 2003 and 2004. Impressively, Federal Government took the matter seriously and followed it up with steps to convince the people that the oral polio vaccine was safe for human use.

“Political, academics, religious and community leaders in the north were deeply engaged and exposed to safety guides in vaccine production, distribution and preservation, to further convince them that the vaccines are safe and not harmful as they were made to believe.

“Some of them were taken to several countries, partly Islamic countries like Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia and several other places, where they were exposed to the nitty-gritty of vaccine production and its efficacy thereof.

“Unfortunately, the disruption in vaccination programmes in these locations led to significant rise in cases, from 200 annually to about 1,200 within that short period. That was major set back for is in the fight. But shortly after that, we began to enjoyed massive support from local and international partners, and that led to the success we had recently.”

He, however, predicted that the earliest the world would be declared polio-free by WHO is 2024 because of the cases that are still being recorded and treated in Pakistan and Afghanistan.