Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, has told mothers to prioritise childhood vaccination for a healthy community and healthy children able to attain their full potential in life.
Dr Olatunji, speaking at the commemoration of African Vaccination Week at the Oranyan Primary Health Care Centre in Ibadan, said that part of what makes a community healthy is ensuring all children are vaccinated against vaccine-preventable illnesses.
Olatunji, who was represented by the Director Logistics and Quality Assurance of the healthcare board, Mr Kehinde Olabode, declared that deaths in children under 2 years of age had greatly reduced with the introduction of vaccines that are protective against many childhood diseases.
He said that African Vaccination Week was intending to increase vaccination coverage in Africa and to encourage mothers to ensure that their children are brought to the health facility for vaccination and that the vaccination regimen is completed.
“Oyo State is yet to reach its target for childhood immunisation coverage, but with mothers’ commitment to bring their children to health facilities for vaccination, it will become better. Of course, it will afford the children opportunities for other health services like vitamin A supplementation and nutrition advice.
“A vaccinated community is healthy because all the children are vaccinated against childhood diseases; the herd immunity of the community is high, and children don’t fall sick due to illnesses that are preventable through vaccines,” he said.
Dr Olatunji added that mothers should also obtain and keep their children’s vaccination cards safe, as they would be required by the child later when enrolling in school.
Representative of the World Health Organisation, Dr Philips Azonto, stated that vaccines are free, safe, and protective against vaccine-preventable diseases like tuberculosis, diphtheria, hepatitis, and measles.
Dr Azonto, who appealed that the media should propagate the importance of vaccines to the hinterlands, said parents should do everything possible to have their children vaccinated and reduced hesitancy in the community.
“If your children are protected, the other children, because they refuse to be vaccinated, are not protected and so can catch the disease and then transmit it within the community. So, we should not allow that to happen.
“The government has done well by bringing the vaccines, and they are free of charge. Let us make sure that we utilise them so that our children will be better protected from vaccine-protectable diseases that are responsible for the deaths of children.”
In a remark, Mr Samuel Olatunji, UNICEF’s Social Behaviour Change consultant in Oyo State, said that, like vaccination, breastfeeding of children is important for healthy children.
He added, “It is important that children be vaccinated so that they can be protected against many diseases; likewise, breastfeeding and on demand are important to ensure they attain their potential in life.”
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