By Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
Despite the unsubstantiated claims of the administration of “poisonous vaccination†by the military in some parts of the country in the last few days, the lingering rumour has started to take its toll on routine immunisation in Nigeria, the Director, Delta State Primary Health Care Development Agency (DSPHCDA), Dr. Winful Orieke, has said.
Fielding questions from journalists in Asaba, Orieke reiterated the clarification by the state government that there was “no free military medical programme (currently) in Delta State†even though some cloud of pessimism still hangs over some places.
While describing the ongoing free medical interventions by the Nigerian military authorities in the South-eastern part of the country as “part of the routine practice of their Free Medical Outreachâ€, the DSPHCDA director noted that the exercise involved mainly blood sugar and high blood pressure screening in communities and not schools.
According to Dr Orieke, “The military has no business with vaccination of children and there is no way they could have carried out such exercise without collaborating with (respective) Ministry of Health (MoH) and Primary Healthcare development agencies across the country.â€
The “poisonous vaccination scare” ostensibly emanated from poor awareness creation on the part of the military authorities before the commencement of the exercise, he observed, adding that the rumour was apparently aggravated by the ‘Operation Python Dance’ military exercise in the South-east as well as the outbreak of monkey pox in some states.
Details later…
