Chairman of Warri South Local Government Council, Dr Micheal Tidi, has kicked off the Polio Outbreak Response 2 Campaign (OBR2) in Warri South Local Government Area.
Speaking during the programme, Dr Tidi said that poliomyelitis was a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the polio virus that could be prevented with effective vaccination.
The chairman urged all parents in the local government area to ensure that all the children under five (5) years of age were immunized during the four-day programme.
He emphasised that Nigeria had been experiencing outbreaks of another poliovirus (CVPV2) variant called Polio Virus Type 2, which he noted could be contracted by children not immunized against all polio virus types.
The chairman said the best protection children could get was vaccination with the oral polio vaccine (OPV) and the injectable polio vaccine (IPV), adding that childhood immunization was critical to keeping every child in Nigeria safe from polio infection.
Tidi said that children should be given the polio vaccine immediately after delivery and subsequent vaccination schedule until after five years of age, assuring that the polio vaccine given multiple times could protect a child for life.
He further reiterated that he hoped the exercise would go a long way in improving the health status of the children in the area, explaining that Poliomyelitis mainly affects children under five years of age.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
