Following the outbreak of the highly contagious viral measles disease in late July, a measles vaccination campaign targeting 42,997 children is underway in Jonglei State’s Ayod County.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, Maker Mathot Nyuon, the county health director, said the 5-day vaccination drive started Wednesday in the county headquarters, Ayod town, and is being rolled out to reach every child in the county.
“A Reactive Mass Vaccination campaign is now going on in Ayod County. Medair is carrying out the exercise and they started in Ayod center, Kwachdeng, and Pajiek where the cases are very high,” he said. “We are targeting 42,997 children. There are no more death cases now. Death cases remain at 50 while patients are 97.”
Ayod County Commissioner James Chuol Jiek said the ongoing drive is significantly containing the outbreak.
“We are thankful to our partners for intervening. Our children are being vaccinated in every payam,” he said. “There are no more new cases and there are no deaths.”
For his part, Stephen Kwach Biliu, the Ayod County Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) coordinator, lauded the vaccination drive as a relief.
“The situation of measles is now better since the vaccination started in the county headquarters,” he said. “Local vaccinators have been trained and the exercise is now going on, reducing the cases.”