World Polio Day: Rotary pushes vaccination as Nigeria marks global event
- Rotary leaders urged parents to ensure children get full polio vaccines, warning the virus still paralyses children.
- In Delta, Rotarians went door to door in Warri, vaccinating children aged zero to five.
- Nigeria was certified free of wild poliovirus in 2020, but variant outbreaks remain a threat.
Rotary clubs across Nigeria marked World Polio Day on Saturday with rallies, door-to-door visits and calls for parents to complete their children's polio vaccinations.
The day is observed every October 24 to draw attention to vaccination and to global efforts to wipe out polio. This year's theme is "A Chance for Reflection and a Reminder to Reach Every Last Child."
In a statement, Rotarian Bukola Bakare, District Governor of Rotary International District 9111, said no child should be paralysed by a disease that vaccines can prevent.
"It is heartbreaking that in this day and age, a child can still become paralysed because of polio," she said.
Bakare, a mother and grandmother, said Nigeria's 2020 certification as free of wild poliovirus was hard-won but does not mean parents can stop vaccinating. Outbreaks of variant poliovirus, she warned, still pose a threat.
She urged parents to ignore rumours and misinformation and to seek advice from qualified health workers. Children in remote villages, she said, deserve the same protection as those in Lagos or Abuja.
Door-to-door in Delta
In Delta State, Rotary clubs in Warri and nearby towns held an awareness drive and vaccinated children aged zero to five.
The exercise was led by Rotarian Anthony Olikagu, District Governor of Rotary International District 9141, alongside District Polio Chairman Rotarian Kenneth Okphior and former Assistant District Governor Rotarian Temi Zuokumor.
Rotarians visited households, spoke with nursing mothers about protecting infants, and gave out the vaccine. The team also went to the Hausa community at Niger Cat, Ekpan, where Olikagu immunised children.
Members said Rotary has supported the World Health Organisation with billions of dollars to make the vaccine available at no cost.
What happens next
Bakare announced a Polio Awareness Train Ride from Lagos to Abeokuta on October 31 to raise funds and educate the public. She also pointed to the Polio Boat Regatta held on October 17, organised jointly by Districts 9111 and 9112.
According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the best protection for children is complete and timely immunisation with both the oral polio vaccine and the inactivated polio vaccine.
Rotary began its polio work in 1979 and launched the PolioPlus initiative in 1985. Bakare called on governments at all levels to keep funding immunisation, especially in communities where children risk missing routine jabs.