The Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ASPHCDA) has extended its Integrated Measles-Rubella vaccination exercise by three days.
The reports that the extension is due to a temporary shortage of vaccines and to cover schools that initially resisted the campaign.
The State Health Educator, Mrs Uju Onwuegbuzina, disclosed this in an interview in Awka on Thursday.
Onwuegbuzina said the exercise, which commenced on Feb. 4, was scheduled to end on Feb. 13, with a two-day mop-up on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15.
She, however, explained that the state did not receive sufficient vaccine doses to cater for the entire target population during the initial phase of the campaign.
According to her, the shortfall was supplied on Feb. 21, prompting the agency to embark on a fresh three-day mop-up to revisit schools where vaccinators earlier encountered resistance.
“We are revisiting schools where we were unable to vaccinate eligible children due to vaccine shortage and initial resistance.
“Our target is to reach at least 95 per cent of the eligible population because immunisation is the right of every child and critical to preventing measles and rubella infections,” she said.
Also speaking, the State Immunisation Officer, Mrs Edith Onwuka, said the team was revisiting schools yet to be covered and expressed optimism that the campaign would conclude on Thursday.
Onwuka urged parents and school authorities to cooperate with health officials to ensure that all eligible children are vaccinated before the close of the exercise.
