Oyewole, who is a virologist, said this in Abuja on Tuesday during a stakeholders meeting on the preparation for mass vaccination against yellow fever in high risk states in the country.
``We are sitting on a tinderbox, if a mass vaccination campaign is not implemented, it means we have a large number of people who are vulnerable. ”
He said the warning became necessary due to the recent outbreak of yellow fever in six districts of Cameroon bordering Cross River.
Oyewole added that that placed Nigeria at risk because ``it is the only country among 13 countries in West Africa yet to conduct mass vaccination”.
He said the objective of the meeting was to create adequate awareness among stakeholders on the risk of new outbreak of yellow fever in Nigeria.
``Others include to adequately plan for yellow fever mass vaccination campaign with a view to averting impending outbreak in the country.
``And to intimate stakeholders with their roles and responsibilities on the forthcoming mass vaccination campaign.”
He urged the Federal Government to reverse the trend of not manufacturing vaccine, adding that the country should not depend on other countries for vaccine.
Oyewole called on the media to create more awareness on the high risk of yellow fever.
``We should use our money in preventive methods rather than looking for cure. ”
On the issue of polio, he said if care was not taken, the country would be the last to eradicate the virus in the world.
``The way we are going, if we are not careful, Nigeria will be the last to eradicate polio. ”
Also speaking, Dr Akin Oyemakinde, Chief Consultant Epidemiologist, Federal Ministry of Health, said an outbreak of that would have dire consequences on the county's health system.
Oyemakinde said 377 local government areas in 25 states had been marked out as high risk areas, which, he noted, indicated an assessment survey of the country.
He said the states were Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo, Taraba, Yobe, Ebonyi, Kwara and Kano.
Oyemakinde said that there has not been a mass vaccination campaign in the past 30 years.
``The last vaccination was after an outbreak that lasted eight years resulting in 20,000 cases which killed more than 5,000 people. ”
``The mathematical models used in assessing Nigeria’s situation suggest an urban area like Lagos could see up to 4.5 million cases along with 128,000 deaths.
``This requires millions of vaccine doses, which will take considerable time to produce. ”
“And there will be potential of Nigeria exporting yellow fever to other countries.”
He said millions of people currently had no protection against yellow fever virus, leaving herd immunity low around the country.
Oyemakinde said the mass vaccination programme would start in 2013, saying it would take up to five years to complete because of the country’s size.
``The experts meeting to plan Nigeria’s mass vaccination programme are certain that combining routine immunisation with mass vaccination is a better option. ”
No comments:
Post a Comment