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Authorities in Adamawa State are conducting compensatory immunisation for babies who, due to prevailing circumstances, missed the routine childhood immunisation schedule.
Officials of the state government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), who are implementing the immunisation catch-up programme, are identifying eligible children and administering vaccines they previously missed.
Through the immunisation make-up project funded by the Republic of Korea, trained vaccinators and community mobilisers are visiting communities to reach both zero-dose children (those who have never received a vaccine since birth) and under-immunised children (those who started but did not complete the immunisation schedule).
According to Mr Patrick Akor, UNICEF Health Officer for Bauchi Field Office, the immunisation exercise targets “zero-dose children who have not received their first vaccine dose and are above the age of 11 months.”
“The initiative also focuses on under-vaccinated children who have not completed their recommended immunisation schedule, particularly in insecurity-affected communities,” he said.
Throwing further light on how unreached children are reached through the ongoing catch-up project, the project consultant for Yola South LGA, Joseph Timothy, said, “There are what we call mobilisers, people who know the communities very well. The mobilisers, also called defaulter trackers, are going from door to door to encourage defaulters to go to the nearest clinic or arrange for our vaccinators to reach them.”
Adamawa State Immunisation Officer Umar Bahuli further avowed that the programme has already delivered considerable results in communities previously identified as low-performing in routine immunisation coverage.
