The Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (APHDA) has said that four polio cases have been recorded in the state. While announcing the outbreak Monday to mark 2021 World Polio Day in Yola, the state capital, APHDA Executive Director, Dr. Sulaiman Bashir disclosed that the new cases are of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus. He noted that even though Nigeria was certified a wild polio-free nation on Aug. 25, 2020, the state recently recorded four new cases. According to him, 99.9 per cent of Polio has however been wiped out with the oral polio vaccine.
He lamented that in rare cases when enough children are not reached out for immunization, other forms of the virus will continue to circulate. “Sadly, four cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 ( CVDPV) were reported in the state,” he declared. In a breakdown of new cases, he said that three cases were recorded in Yola South Council, while Gombi had one. He said that in overcoming the problem, two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns are ongoing in response with the NOPV2 vaccine were also conducted in the state.
He said that the rapid response was to help curtail the circulation of all forms of polioviruses in the state. Bashir therefore reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to continue working with stakeholders at all levels to ensure vaccination of every child in the state. The State Coordinator of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Semeeh Omoleke also reaffirmed that Nigeria was certified free of wild poliovirus.
