Centres inoculate 1,000 persons against cholera in Bauchi

No fewer than 1,000 persons have been inoculated against cholera in Bauchi metropolis in the ongoing mass immunisation exercise in the state.

Reports state that the Bauchi State Government on July 24 distributed over 1.5 million doses of cholera vaccines to Primary Healthcare Facilities (PHCs), to facilitate smooth conduct of the vaccination exercise across the state.

The five-day vaccination exercise is designed to stem spread of cholera disease recorded in the past weeks in most of the 20 local government areas of the state.

A correspondent, who monitored the exercise in Bauchi on Tuesday, reports that the exercise recorded high turnout of people in some of the PHCs visited.

Mr Aminu Musa, the Immunisation Focal Person in the Tashan Babaye PHC, said the centre had adopted effective modalities to facilitate smooth running of the vaccination exercise to enable it to reach the daily targeted population.

Musa said the center deployed four teams within its jurisdiction for the exercise, adding that the teams would also visit schools to administer the vaccine on children.

According to him, the facility is targeting 800 persons daily for vaccination against the disease.

The checks at the Urban Maternity clinic in the metropolis showed that over 200 persons had so far vaccinated between 8:00 am and 10:00 am.

A health official in the facility, who preferred anonymity, said that teams of vaccinators had been deployed to the host community to enhance immunisation coverage at the grassroots.

At the Federal Lowcost PHC, about 800 people had received doses of the vaccine in targeted schools in the area on Tuesday.

Some of the residents, who spoke to NAN after taking the vaccines, expressed joy over the development.

Mrs Asabe Inuwa, a housewife, said that she came to the facility to be vaccinated, to protect herself against the disease.

Another resident, Bala Umar, said that he took the vaccine alongside other members of his family to protect them against the dreaded disease.

Statistics of the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (PHCDA), showed that the state recorded 37 cholera related deaths and 1,799 cases as at June 12.