The Federal Government, yesterday, on the occasion of this year’s World Polio Day (WPD), assured that Nigeria’s free polio status remains intact amid rising cases of mutant circulating vaccine-derived polio virus (cvdpv) in parts of the country.
To address the situation, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, told journalists that to stop the circulation of the mutant forms in about 23 states across the federation, government was deploying a new tool, oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), targeted at children of ages zero to 59 months.
Shuaib, who is also a consultant public health physician, said “this new tool is found to be more stable in the environment and less likely to cause ceding and changes of the polio virus to a mutant form that causes more spread and paralysis to Nigerian children.”
Nigeria and the African region were certified Wild Poliovirus (WPV)-free on August 25, 2020 after more than two decades of intensive and aggressive government-led mass vaccination campaigns, with the last case reported in Borno in 2016.
Shuaib said since certification, the country has not recorded any case of transmission of WPV in any part whatsoever.
On this year’s WPD with the theme, “One Day. One Focus: Ending Polio – delivering on our promise of a polio-free world,” the NPHCDA joined Rotary International (RI), World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other development partners to appreciate the sacrifices of Nigeria’s heroes and heroines and reaffirm commitment to deliver on promise to maintain a polio-free Nigeria and a polio-free world.
The NPHCDA boss said though tremendous progress had been made globally and only two countries –Afghanistan and Pakistan – are endemic for the WPV, other mutant forms of the virus, have regrettable, continued to circulate in many African nations, including Nigeria.
Shuaib said the government, through the NPHCDA, however, remains committed to sustaining the country’s WPV eradication status and ending the transmission of all forms of polio viruses for which reason the country still conducts mass campaigns.
