Adamawa announces four new cases of polio despite Nigeria’s polio-free status

The Adamawa State government, on Monday, announced that four new cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus have been recorded in the state.

This was disclosed by the Executive Chairman of the Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Sulaiman Bashir at a news conference to mark the 2021 World Polio Day in Yola.

According to Bashir, though Nigeria was certified a wild polio-free nation on Aug. 25, 2020, the state recently recorded four new cases.

“Although, 99.9 per cent of Polio has been wiped out with the oral polio vaccine. In rare cases when enough children are not reached, other forms of the virus will continue to circulate.

READ ALSO: UNICEF, WHO call for emergency action on measles and polio outbreak

“Sadly, four cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 ( CVDPV) were reported in Adamawa, One case in Gombi and 3 cases in Yola South Local Government Areas,” he said.

Bashir further stated that to overcome the problem, two rounds of polio vaccination campaign which included outbreak response with the NOPV2 vaccine were conducted in the state, adding that the rapid response was to help curtail the circulation of all forms of polioviruses in the state.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now