By OLATUNDE AJAYI

The Oyo State Primary Health Care Board (OYOPHCB) is set to commence the integrated Measles Rubella vaccination exercise.

The Executive Secretary of OYOPHCB, Dr Muideen Olatunji, disclosed this at a news conference to herald the exercise on Tuesday in Ibadan.

Olatunji said that the vaccination has a target of three millions children in the state and was expected to start from Oct. 4 to Oct. 14, with additional two days for mop up exercise.

According to the secretary, the exercise is designed to protect large cohorts of children from nine months to 14 years and also to bridge gaps of those who have never received Rubella vaccine.

He also said that the administration of the Measles Rubella vaccine would be routine like every other after the two days mop up exercise.

This, the official said, was to enable nursing mothers to freely take their children to Public Healthcare Centres (PHC) to get the vaccine free of charge.

He said that Rubella seems to mimic measles at times and parents often make mistakes in differentiating between the two.

Olatunji said that the situation, hence requires government to take vaccination agains rubella and measles together for all encompassing protection for the children.

He said that measles remained one of the highly contagious virus diseases characterised by fever, cough, conjunctivitis and a distinctive rash which could lead to severe complications.

The official added that the disease remained one of the leading causes of deaths among young children worldwide, while Rubella, also known as German measles, typically causes mild illness in children and adults.

According to him, Rubella infection during pregnancy could result in severe birth defects known as Congenital Rubella syndrome (CRS).

“Rubella burden in Nigeria is under documented due to limited surveillance. As of 2024, CRS remains a significant global public health concern with estimated 100,000 babies born with CRS each year.

“Also, the current high level susceptibility of Rubella among women of childbearing age contributes to the national CRS burden.

“The total number of 10 rubella cases were reported from six local government areas in the year 2024 from Ibadan Northeast, Ibadan Southwest, Ibarapa North, Ibarapa Central, Lagelu and Ogbomoso South Local Government areas of the state,” he said.

Also speaking, the State Immunization Officer, Mr Adedamola Adediran, said that Measles Rubella vaccination campaign was implemented to close immunity gaps because measles rubella integrated vaccine had better capability than measles only vaccine.

“The aim and objective of the integrated Measles Rubella campaign is to contribute to the reduction of measles and Rubella incidents in Nigeria to less than five cases per million by 2026 by increasing population immunity through vaccination.

“It is also a broad effort to reduce measles and Rubella incidents to less than one case per million by 2030 and achieve total elimination in line with national measles rubella elimination plan,” he said. (NAN)