Stakeholders from the nine local government areas in Anambra State identified as having underperformed in the routine immunization exercise across the state have been urged to do more to convince their people to uptake the vaccines for their benefit.
The call was made during a one-day non-residential Stakeholder Engagement/ Town Hall meeting organized in Awka by the Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency, ANSPHCDA, in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and other partners ahead of the BIG CATCH-UP Exercise in the State.
The Big Catch-Up exercise targets routine immunization intensification in the nine LGAs, which have very low immunization indices in the state, according to data from the National Primary HealthCare Development Agency, PHCDA.
The affected Local Government Areas are Ayamelum, Aguata, Ihiala, Orumba North, Orumba South, Idemili North, Idemili South, Anaocha, and Nnewi.
The intensification of immunization targets zero doses and under-immunization.
The Director of Disease Control and Immunization at the ANSPHCDA, Dr. Placid Uliagbafusi, lamented the negative implications of vaccine hesitancy and said the development could set Anambra backward beyond the milestones already recorded.
He maintained that the state government and its agencies will not approve any vaccines that threaten the lives and health of the people. The government is worried about the stereotypes and myths being spread about vaccines, which is driving people’s hesitancy.
Regretting that many people have died as a result of diseases that could have been prevented with vaccines, Uliagbafusi pleaded with religious leaders, community leaders, CSOs, and other opinion leaders to take the message deeper down to the communities.
Uliagbafusi also warned the people against believing quacks and medicine vendors who claim to have cures for every sickness.
He further advised that the Ward Development Committees, WDCs, and other stakeholders support the Officers-in-Charge, OICs of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in their communities to ensure that the management of PHCs in their localities is working as it ought to.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Agency, Dr Obiageli Uchebo, urged participants at the meeting to understand that the consequences of not getting vaccinated far outweigh any fear they may have about the vaccines.
She said the government has been attentive to perceived side reactions to any of the vaccines, which she noted were usually caused by body systems and not by the stereotypes spread about the vaccines.
Some of the stakeholders at the meeting, including the leader of the State Civil Society Network, ACSONET, Prince Chris Azor, and a member of the Umueje WDC, Chief Goddy Amuluche, stressed the need for the government to provide the necessary support to them to drive the awareness campaign and other oversight activities that will ensure effectiveness and efficiency at the PHCs.
They also emphasized the need for the government to investigate the activities of some Officers in Charge of Primary Health Centres (PHCs), who exhibit highhandedness in managing the facilities.
