Ebonyi to vaccinate 1.1m in wake of Yellow fever outbreak
A campaign is planned to vaccinate some 1.1 million people against Yellow fever in three local government areas of Ebonyi hit by an outbreak of the disease last month. The vaccination will cover ages from nine months to 44 years. Residents in the area said 18 people were killed in the outbreak, but government official […]
Nkechi Ogbonna, a yellow fever patient receiving treatment at a health facility in Izzi local government area Photo: Nabob Ogbonna
A campaign is planned to vaccinate some 1.1 million people against Yellow fever in three local government areas of Ebonyi hit by an outbreak of the disease last month.
The vaccination will cover ages from nine months to 44 years.
Residents in the area said 18 people were killed in the outbreak, but government official report said 11 cases and two deaths were recorded.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Umezurike who made this known to Journalists on Friday, explained that the mass vaccination would last for 10 days.
Umezurike noted that the immunization would not be a house to house activity, hence urged residents to go to the nearest designated posts for the vaccine.
“The approved mass vaccination campaign against yellow fever will be in 3 LGAs: Izzi, Ebonyi and Abakaliki and it will start from 6th to 16th September, 2019 for a start.
“For this activity 374 teams will be working in the 3 LGAs targeting to immunize everybody between 9 months to 44 years which constitutes 85 percent of the population.
“The target population in these three LGAs are 1,121.021 persons and every arrangement has been made to achieve a successful campaign with good coverage and it shall be house to house activity.” he explained.