The Federal Government has launched a Routine Immunization Schedule- the Rotavirus vaccine, so as to reduce mortality rate in children under the age of five.
According to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire at the flag off ceremony, the Expanded Programme on Immunization, EPI, is expected to avert about one hundred and ten thousand deaths in children under the age of five in the next ten years.
The minister, who was represented by the Director of Public Health, Dr Morenike Alex-Okoh, said, that ninety percent of such deaths occur in developing countries including Nigeria saying the vaccine is very important in the country as it will avert the death related to diarrhea for about ten years, saying that the government has support of donors and partners, especially GAVI which has spent huge amounts to fulfil routine immunization vaccines for the Nigerian children.
Dr. Ehanire, also said improving the health of Nigerian children remains the priority of this administration and asked parents and caregivers to leverage on the privilege to ensure their children are vaccinated against all preventable diseases.
The Minster’s representative thanked all those who are PHC leaders at the sub-national level, and all healthcare workers across the forty-thousand PHC facilities for doggedness in ensuring that no Nigerian child is left behind in accessing potent vaccines and other services.
The Country Representative of the World Health Organization, WHO, in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, assured of WHO’s continued commitment to providing technical support to the introduction of the Rotavirus Vaccine into the Routine Immunization Schedule and other health interventions in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, on his part, explained that Introduction of Rotavirus vaccine is a big investment due to its substantial economic impact and number of lives that would be saved from the introduction.
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