4 New Polio cases in Adamawa – Bashir
Adamawa State Government has announced four new cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus in the state.
Dr. Sulaiman Bashir, Executive Chairman, Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, disclosed this at a news conference to mark the 2021 World Polio Day in Yola.
Bashir, said though Nigeria was certified a wild polio-free nation on Aug. 25, 2020, the state recently recorded four new cases.
“Although, 99.9 percent of Polio has been wiped out with the oral polio vaccine. In rare cases when enough children are not reached, other forms of the virus will continue to circulate.” Sadly, four cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 ( CVDPV) were reported in Adamawa, One case in Gombi, and 3 cases in Yola South Local Government Areas,” he said.
Bashir said, to overcome the problem, two rounds of polio vaccination campaign which included outbreak response with the NOPV2 vaccine were conducted in the state.
He said that the rapid response was to help curtail the circulation of all forms of polioviruses in the state.
Bashir reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to continue working with stakeholders at all levels to ensure the vaccination of every child in the state.
In his remarks, Dr. Semeeh Omoleke, Coordinator of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the state, also reaffirmed that Nigeria was certified free of wild poliovirus.
“Nigeria is currently facing outbreaks of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus and four cases were confirmed in Adamawa.
“The current situation calls for collective actions by the government at all levels and Health Development partners”.