Ekiti State Government has said it will start administering the Measles-Rubella vaccine as part of its immunisation programme this month in a bid to protect children and close existing immunity gaps.
The State Immunisation Officer, Mrs Omolabake Ogundola, who described measles and rubella as deadly and contagious diseases, said the introduction of the MR vaccine into the immunisation programme in the state was to protect children against them.
She spoke in Ado Ekiti on Friday during a media orientation and sensitisation meeting organised by the Ekiti State Primary Health Care Development Agency in collaboration with United Nations Childrens Fund ahead of the statewide vaccination campaign.
Ogundola said, “The MR vaccine will be introduced into routine immunisation in the third week of January, preceded by a 10-day statewide vaccination campaign. The campaign will target children aged nine months to 14 years.
“After this, the vaccine will become part of routine immunisation for children at nine months and 15 months as first and second doses respectively, replacing the existing standalone measles vaccine.
Ogundola said, “The campaign targets 17 per cent of Ekiti State’s total population. Achieving between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of this target will be considered a successful implementation. Both administrative coverage data and post-campaign surveys would be used to assess the effectiveness of the exercise”.
Speaking on the implementation strategies, the state immunization officer said that all the health facilities offering routine immunization across the state would remain open throughout the campaign period.
She added that mobile teams would be deployed to communities to set up temporary vaccination posts, while targeted outreach would be carried out in rural areas, factory settlements, farm camps, and security-compromised locations, in collaboration with security agencies where necessary.
The Director of Disease Control and Immunisation, Dr Segun Adeoye, who described immunisation as one of the most effective public health interventions globally, stressed its critical role in reducing morbidity and mortality among children and mothers.
Adeoye said that media remained an indispensable partner in public health campaign to reach vast number of households, saying media credibility enhanced community confidence.
He said that the media orientation was organised “to properly equip journalists with accurate information on the MR vaccine, its safety, effectiveness, target population and campaign strategies in order to ensure consistent and responsible public messaging.
He added that collaboration between the health sector and the media is essential in combating misinformation, myths, and public concerns surrounding vaccination.
The State Technical Assistant with the World Health Organisation, Dr Ebube Eronini, described the campaign “as a critical intervention aimed at closing immunity gaps against highly contagious measles and rubella infections”.
She noted that the exercise would cover all communities and settlements in Ekiti State to ensure that no eligible child is left behind.
Eronini, who said that measles, a highly contagious viral disease, could lead to severe complications such as malnutrition, blindness, encephalitis, and death, particularly among children under age five, added that rubella poses serious risks to pregnant women, often resulting in congenital rubella syndrome, which could cause hearing loss, heart defects, and visual impairment in infants.
The State Technical Assistant for the International Vaccine Access Centre, Mrs Folakemi Aladenika, urged parents and caregivers to take advantage of the campaign window, noting that children above the eligible age would no longer have access to the vaccine once it was fully integrated into routine immunisation.
Also speaking, the State Health Educator, Dr Olajumoke Oguntoye, said that stakeholders, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, school authorities, parent-teacher associations and educationists had been engaged and had endorsed the vaccination exercise.
