The Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency has immunised a total of 2.6 million children in the state in the just concluded routine polio immunisation exercise.

The Director of Disease Control in the agency, Hamza Ibrahim Ikara, said in Kaduna on Thursday that the immunisation exercise was conducted from January 10 to January 17.

He said the exercise was conducted in all the 23 local government areas of the state and assured that the agency would monitor the situation to ensure that no child was left out.

The director said that any child who missed taking the immunisation during the routine exercise would be captured in a mop-up immunisation later. He appealed to parents to support the agency to ensure complete eradication of the virus in the state.

Mr Ikara further assured that the vaccines are safe, and all eligible persons who make themselves available would freely receive it.

He said that when children in a community are not adequately immunised and they get exposed to a weakened but mutated strain of the polio virus, they come out with manifestation of the disease.

The director said that the polio virus was a devastating disease that had caused severe illness and had led to loss of function of one or more limbs.

According to him, the infection leaves the child with lifelong complications, hence limiting opportunities and diminishing the chances of a child’s progress.

The director said that a mop up vaccination would be conducted in the next four weeks.

(NAN)