The Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency has disclosed that it is targeting 388,180 girls aged nine to 14 years for vaccination against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) to prevent them from developing cervical cancer.
Dr. Suleiman Bashir, the agency’s executive chairman of the Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, confirmed this in an interview with newsmen in Yola.
Bashir stated that the virus sensitization and vaccination of girls were ongoing and would take three months.
He went on to say that the vaccination was chosen for girls aged nine to fourteen years old in Adamawa State in order to safeguard and boost their immunity before being exposed to the virus.
The exercise has yet to begin in Borno and Yobe states, and some residents have stated that the vaccination is still controversial.
“People are saying that the vaccine is harmful to fertility; we need clarification on this allegation from the authorities concerned.
“Nobody is talking for now, and until that allegation is clarified, many parents won’t allow their daughters to be vaccinated,” Abdulkareem Ali, a parent with four daughters in Maiduguri, said.
Dr. Goni Abba, Director of Public Health of the Borno Ministry of Health, stated that vaccination and enlightenment had yet to begin.
Abba stated that the vaccination was recently launched last week in Abuja, that state representatives who were in Abuja had just returned, and that the ministry needs to convene to determine the next course of action for the immunization in the state.
In Yobe, where the exercise has yet to begin, the National Orientation Agency’s Head of Programmes, Alhaji Sabiu Suleiman, said plans had been finalized to launch an enlightenment campaign on the virus.
