The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, flagged off the Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV) campaign, with 7,000 doses of the vaccine to kick start the programme in Bayelsa State.
The state is the first in the country to receive the Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV).
The Bayelsa State Governor, Sen. Douye Diri, who was represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, during the flag-off appealed to the people of the state to make themselves available for the ongoing oral cholera vaccination (OCV) as a preventive measure against the communicable disease.
The governor, who said the vaccines were safe to boost their immune systems, expressed gratitude to the WHO for its collaborative efforts with the state government in addressing health issues in the state.
According to him, it was as a result of the proactive measures and prompt response by the state government and all stakeholders in the health sector that the impact of outbreak of epidemics in the six states in the South-South zone were not felt in Bayelsa State.
His words: “l encourage Bayelsans and residents to go out en masse to get vaccinated with the Oral Cholera Vaccine because it is safe and has zero side effects.
“We urge local government council chairmen to also go to their headquarters to take the vaccine to show that the vaccine is safe. If you take this vaccine, for three years, you will not have cholera.
“Our health system is so resilient, robust and proactive that despite those episodes of the six layers of epidemics we had in the state, no life was lost in our state. But unfortunately, in other states, lives were lost.”
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, expressed the government’s commitment to strengthen public health emergency response systems in the state.
Prof. Brisibe said the WHO has released 7,000 doses of the cholera vaccine to cover Southern Ijaw and Nembe Local Government Areas to kick-start the vaccination in the state.
He stressed the need to increase the uptake, noting that the state has not recorded any side effects from all the vaccinations including the cholera and the ongoing malaria vaccination exercise.
Also, the State Coordinator of the World Health Organisation, Dr Marcus Oluwadare, described the state’s response to health emergency situations in the state as very impressive.
(Independent)
