By Muhammad Amaan
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, has assured that the Nigeria government will effectively deploy vaccines coming from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The minister made this known while responding to a post made by the Chief Executive Officer of the vaccine firm, Dr Sania Nishtar, on X formerly known as Twitter.
In the post, Nishtar disclosed that the fresh cholera vaccines would soon arrive in Nigeria to help curb the deadly and ongoing outbreak.
Recall that on June 27, the Gavi CEO stated that the body was concerned about the cholera outbreak in Nigeria and was ready to support the country in its response, including requesting emergency vaccine doses where needed.
As of July 15, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 3,623 suspected cholera cases and 103 deaths across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The current outbreak has spread to 187 local government areas, with a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8 per cent since the beginning of the year.
The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, noted that the predominant age affected was five years old, while males account for 52 per cent of cases and females account for the rest.
He, however, said there was a 5.6 per cent decline in the number of cases in this reporting week (8th -14th July) as compared to the preceding week.
Pledging Gavi’s readiness to support Nigeria’s anti-cholera fight, Nishtar on Thursday tweeted, “Encouraged to learn that #Cholera vaccines from the @Gavi-funded global vaccine stockpile will soon arrive in Nigeria to help curb the country’s deadly and ongoing outbreak.
“We stand ready to work with our partners @UNICEF and @WHO to support Minister @muhammadpate, @Fmohnigeria, and @NCDCgov’s timely efforts to contain this outbreak and protect those at the highest risk.
“Despite the large number of cholera outbreaks this year, our stockpile is now fully replenished and production continues at maximum capacity. We hope to keep supporting cholera affected countries with their control plans. #stopcholera.”
Responding to the post, the health minister thanked Gavi’s CEO for facilitating the vaccines, saying they would be effectively deployed.
The minister tweeted, “Thanks @SaniaNishtar for facilitating our early access to @Gavi-funded #Cholera vaccines. We will deploy the vaccines efficiently and effectively in response to the ongoing outbreak.
“Thanks also to President Tinubu @officialABAT for his astute leadership in setting up a multi-sector cabinet committee to support the Emergence Operations Centre led by @NCDCgov to work with our 36 States in a national response to the outbreak. We are seeing early signs of slowing down but we’ll not relent as the situation can reverse. So, the cholera vaccines strengthen our hands.”
The minister further affirmed that the Federal Government is accelerating efforts to improve the water and sanitation situation in the country.
