FOR fear of being attacked by armed robbers and other criminals, anti-polio officials have declined rendering their services in 16 communities in Birnin Gwari Local Council of Kaduna State, cutting off the children from assessing oral polio vaccination.
It was learnt that the local council has been under the invasion of rampaging robbers in the past few months, with the last bloody attack on Dogo Dawa community where over 20 villagers were allegedly killed and many injured recently.
Already, the state has recorded 14 fresh cases of polio infection between January to November this year, with Northern part of the Kaduna State leading with 13 cases due to non-vaccination of the children for political and religious reasons.
Addressing participants at a workshop organised by Journalists Against Polio (JAP), Sunday, the representative of the State Ministry of Health who is the Secretary, State Action Committee on immunization, Alhaji Lawal Abubakar urged the health officials and vaccinators to be responsive to their professional callings by penetrating the so-called danger zones to immunise the children against polio.
According to Abubakar, "if war- torn countries like Somalia and Sudan were in the forefront of immunising children despite the ravaging crises, Nigeria, particularly Northern part of the country, has no excuse to ward off any danger for the sake of saving children from the transmitting disease.
"Communities not reached by vaccinators because of insecurity due to fear of attack by armed robbers include Kuyello, Magajin Gari 111, Dogo Dawa and Gayam with 16 settlements under them."
He expressed regrets that Northern Nigeria was dragging the country back in the fight against polio, pointing out that if parents in the zone subject their children to routine vaccination, the scourge would have been kicked out of the country because, "if one child is infected with the virus, it can be transmitted to over 200 children."
The Health Ministry official argued that out of 179 global polio cases, "Nigeria is leading with 100 cases with the entire Northern zone nursing the whole 100 cases of polio infection in the country".
Abubakar advised parents to allow their children to take polio vaccination, saying the rumour that the vaccine is a calculated attempt by western world to reduce population is a campaign of calumny by people who do not want the polio programme to succeed.
Said Alhaji Abubakar: "There is need for immunization against polio as long as children are being born, vaccination will continue even if it is one child that is being born because it is a huge cost to keep a child with polio infection than to prevent it. The parents who are kicking against this immunization usually take the
vaccination themselves when they go on pilgrimages. So why taking what you prevented your child from taking?".
He therefore urged journalists to help in educating and enlightening the people in the state about importance of vaccination against polio, noting that lack of communication between the vaccinators and parents was one of the reasons for non compliance on the part of the
benefactors.
Meanwhile, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa has lamented the prevalence of polio cases in the country, expressing regret that Nigeria has become the most entrenched reservoir of the wild polio virus in the world.
