No fewer than 127,550 children aged between zero and 59 months are being targeted for vaccination as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Bauchi State Government, commenced a seven-day mass immunisation exercise in Toro Local Government Area of the state.
The exercise, which was flagged off in Tilde Ward, is aimed at tackling polio-related diseases, reducing child mortality and preventing other vaccine-preventable illnesses, according to the Local Immunisation Officer (LIO), Toro LGA, Musa Danladi.
Danladi said the choice of Tilde Ward for the flag-off was due to its history of vaccine non-compliance, noting that the exercise would deploy both house-to-house and fixed-post vaccination strategies to ensure wide coverage.
“We have teams of vaccinators going street by street to immunise children outside their homes using the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine (NOPV), targeting all eligible children from zero to 59 months,” he said.
He added that fixed vaccination posts had also been established across the 17 wards of the local government to provide routine immunisation services for children aged zero to 23 months, including vaccines such as BCG, Hepatitis B, IPV and PCV.
Danladi explained that 32 ward focal persons and several field volunteers had been trained at the local government level, with support from UNICEF, the Bauchi State Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO), to effectively implement the exercise.
He disclosed that Toro LGA had recorded about 99 per cent vaccine compliance, attributing the success to the support of the local government chairman, traditional leaders and community mobilisers, alongside sustained assistance from UNICEF and other development partners.
“UNICEF is supporting community leaders, vaccine mobilisers and town announcers, and has facilitated the supply of all the vaccines being used for this exercise,” he said.
Speaking on the wider impact of the campaign, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Bauchi, Nuzhat Rafique, said more than 1.7 million eligible children had been reached and vaccinated across the state.
She described immunisation as a critical strategy for saving children’s lives, improving health outcomes and enabling children to reach their full potential, especially those in remote and underserved communities.
Also speaking, a consultant at Magama Primary Healthcare Centre in Toro, Ahmed Suleiman, said increased sensitisation had led to a significant turnout of parents bringing their children for vaccination.
He added that sustained community engagement was key to eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases in the area.
Danladi urged parents and caregivers to continue cooperating with health officials to ensure that all eligible children were fully immunised, noting that the collective effort would help make Toro LGA free of vaccine-preventable diseases.
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