Nigeria needs as many as 800,000 doses of the type C
meningitis vaccine to deal with the outbreak Sokoto State Government has commenced the vaccination of two
million people against the type “C” strain of meningitis, the Commissioner for
Health, Dr. Balarabe Kakale, has said.
He told journalists in Sokoto on Wednesday during an update
on the meningitis epidemic that the government has received the first
installment of 20,000 doses of the vaccines from the Federal Government.
Kakale said, “The target population across the state are
those aged between one and 30 years, the exercise was kick-started in Gada
Local Government.
“This was done because the local government has the highest
population of 300,000 in the state.
“The first case of meningitis was also recorded in the area about
three months ago while it is also a front line local government, bordering
Niger republic.
“Twelve teams are conducting the first phase of the exercise
in the area with nine officials each.”
Kakale further stated that the remaining twenty two local governments
would be covered in the subsequent phases of the exercise.
“The state has since exited the first phase of the high
alert, declared on March 20 on the health sector due to the epidemic.
“We are now in the second phase which entails the mass immunisation
of the people of the state against the deadly strain of the disease.”
This was first published on Punch
