BY TAIBAT UMMI YAKUBU
Katsina State is set to deploy more than 7,000 vaccination teams across 28 local government areas for a new polio immunisation campaign beginning November 7, with health officials also planning to reach more than 40,000 children in communities affected by insecurity.
Dr Kabir Suleiman, the state’s Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control, disclosed this on Saturday during an event organised to mark the 2026 World Polio Day in Katsina, with support from the CORE Group Partners Project (CGPP) and implementation by Save the Children International.
Suleiman said the November campaign would concentrate on high-risk communities and children who had missed earlier vaccination exercises, as authorities work to prevent further spread of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus detected through environmental surveillance in the state.
He explained that although Nigeria was certified free of wild poliovirus in 2020, the detection of vaccine-derived poliovirus remained a concern, particularly in areas where immunisation coverage was insufficient.
The disease control official said previous vaccination response activities had reached more than 15,000 children, while preparations were underway for another exercise targeting over 40,000 children in security-compromised settlements.
“We have already perfected all plans for that campaign. We are targeting over 40,000 children in security-compromised settlements, and we are taking necessary measures to ensure that all eligible children are vaccinated,” he said.
He identified insecurity as a major obstacle to immunisation, explaining that some settlements remained difficult for health workers to reach. To address the challenge, vaccination teams are adopting strategies to reach children in schools, markets, places of worship, border communities and other public locations.
Suleiman also raised concerns about vaccine hesitancy among some parents and caregivers, urging them to allow their children to receive the free vaccines provided through government and development partner-supported programmes.
On diphtheria, he said Katsina had intensified surveillance, treatment and vaccination activities, with more than 150,000 children vaccinated during the first phase of the response. He added that about 200 patients had received treatment at designated facilities in recent months.
The state government and its development partners, he said, would sustain interventions in areas with higher transmission to reduce infections and protect children from preventable diseases.
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