Nigerian Govt Distributes Doses Of Meningitis Vaccines

THE Federal Government has announced that 500,000 doses of Meningitis C vaccines have been distributed to some of the states affected by the outbreak for vaccination.

Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety seven suspected cases of CSM have been reported in 16 states, of which 146 have been laboratory-confirmed. About 336 deaths have also been recorded.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said additional 823,970 doses of Meningitis C vaccines are expected from the United Kingdom (UK) to support vaccination activities in other affected states.

NCDC is collaborating with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and other partners to tackle the outbreak.

They have set up an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to manage the outbreak.
It brings national response into an Incidence Management System to ensure that all activities across the country will be managed using a clear command and control structure led by an Incident manager, who reports through the chief executive officer of the NCDC to the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

With this new coordinating structure, it is expected that the country will have a tight, multi-partner team of experts pulled from the most competent agencies focusing on outbreak control.

The Head of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the NCDC, Dr. John Oladejo, will act as Incident manager of the response, while experts from the Federal Ministry of Health, NCDC, NPHCDA, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. CDC, Medecins Sans Frontieres, AFENET, University of Maryland and E-Health Africa take important roles in different units.

They will focus on five important components of the outbreak response.
But the Senate yesterday asked the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC to make meningitis vaccinations free in public healthcare institutions.

Edited from The Nation