…Encourages COVID 19 vaccination
Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo has expressed the need for sustained surveillance and monitoring to forestall a re occurrence of poliomyelitis.
Banigo stated this at the third Quarterly meeting of the Rivers State Task Force on Immunization and Primary Health Care at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
The Deputy Governor who expressed delight with the state’s polio free status said “The last time we talked about the circulating vaccine derived poliovirus and what we are doing about it. We thank God that we have been declared polio free in Africa, but there are still some countries that have polio so we do not need to rest on our oars, we do not need to let down our guard”.
Banigo who described the State Chief Executive, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike as a very health friendly Governor who is desirous to building human capital and increase the health indices of the state.
According to the Public Health Physician who advocated for sustained COVID 19 vaccination, said statistics have shown that the third wave of the virus which was also the first wave to have vaccination was declining all over Africa.
“Despite all the conspiracy theories we have noticed that vaccines actually works so we are going to make sure that we keep pushing up with our vaccination while at the same time, we will keep up all the entire COVID 19 responses”. She further stressed.
Banigo who said some outbreak of cholera, which occurred within the last quarter, had also declined, encouraged partners, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Local Government Authorities to ensure that good water was available to communities, stressing that availability of good water, and improved sanitation was key in the quest to nip cholera in the bud.
