The Awerial County health department in Lakes State on Wednesday started a mobile vaccination campaign against infectious diseases such as polio, measles, and whooping cough targeting children.
This follows the recent declaration of a polio outbreak in Awerial after one case was confirmed in Nyop-Adeet village in Puluk Payam.
The four-day vaccination campaign will target areas of Maghok, Abyung, Mayom, Pul Awaar and Majok Asilik.
The vaccinators started the exercise on Wednesday in Abuyung and Maghok where they will spend four days vaccinating all children from birth to one year.
However, officials said some parents have refused to have their children vaccinated due to disinformation about the vaccines with some believing that the vaccine exposes children to diseases.
James Manyiel Agup, a medical officer in Awerial County, urged parents to allow their children to get vaccinated.
“My message to parents in hard-to-reach areas is to take children from birth to one year to vaccination centers because this will help them to get vaccines that will prevent common diseases,” he said. I am asking parents not to prevent their children from getting vaccinated.”
Dhuor Leet, a community member in Pulawaar, accepted the call to vaccinate young children.
“A healthy child has completed vaccination doses. Since the road that links the town with Pulawar became impassable during the rainy season so I am asking my community members to take their children for vaccination for the next four days to prevent diseases,” he stated. “It will give us peace of mind when children are vaccinated. It is the task of parents to allow children to benefit from this immunization campaign that targets our area now.”
The current mobile vaccination campaign is an initiative of the Health Pooled Fund implemented by Doctors for Africa CUAM and it targets 70 children per day in hard-to-reach areas.