The Kano state government has said the previous administration is responsible for the polio variant recorded in the state.
The state commissioner for health, Dr Abubakar Labaran, stated this yesterday during the maiden meeting of the state task force on immunisation at the African house in the state government house.
According to him, Kano state constitutes 40 per cent of the zero-dose cases recorded in Nigeria, with 20 records constituting 15 Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) and five environmental samples (ES) cases.
“Kano state is suffering now because of the failure of the previous administration to immunise our children between 2020 and 2023.
“For that reason, Kano state has the highest number of zero doses in the country.
“Kano has the highest number of diphtheria cases; 80 per cent of all diphtheria victims are in Kano; and Kano state has one-third of all disability variants of poliovirus now.
“This is why we need to put hands together to ensure that we do whatever is possible to ensure we immunise our children against these communicable general diseases”.
While stressing the importance of immunisation to eradication and prevention, the commissioner emphasised how the traditional institutions and committees constituted both at the state and Local Government Areas (LGAs) would help significantly in achieving the feat, especially with the selection of reliable members for a successful outing in the upcoming three rounds of immunisation.
However, he sought the governor’s mandate to make it compulsory for immigrants, especially children under five, to be immunised at the state’s border communities and motor parks, stressing that some of the cases recorded were brought into the state.
In his remarks, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of the field office in Kano, Mr Rahma Farah, said the increase in non-immunised children in the state constitutes a considerable burden for the state, hence the need to provide the necessary guidance and support to strengthen the health system to stop the virus from spreading to other LGAs.
While assuring UNICEF of its commitment to active partnership in terms of resources and social mobilisation, among other things, to eradicating polio and strengthening routine immunisation, he stated that some of the numerous challenges include missed vaccination, resources, and population.
Also speaking, Andrew Stein, the Polio Outbreak Team Lead at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, tasked the committee members with working together and doing their best to ensure every child is immunised.