Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has flagged off the third round of polio immunisation, which targets 981,710 children under the age of five. Daily Trust reports.

The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, said the move was to eliminate polio in the state.

The deputy chairman, Gombe State Council of Chiefs, Mai Kaltungo, Engineer Sale Muhammad, and the Lamido of Gona, Alhaji Umar Abdulqadir Abdussalam, called on community leaders, parents and caregivers especially women to cooperate with health workers by presenting their children for vaccination.

The traditional rulers explained that the vaccination would boost children’s immune systems to fight any killer disease.

The Executive Secretary of Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, PHCDA, Dr Abdulrahman Shu’aibu, said the vaccination included polio, deworming and malaria, among others.

Meanwhile, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, has called for improved access to vaccination to strengthen quality health coverage.

The emir made the call when he received the management of the New Incentives-All Babies Are Equal (NI-ABAE) initiative on a courtesy visit to his palace.

“I assure you of our full support. I encourage every NI-ABAE staff to consider this work a sacred task with eventual rewards from God. Please be mindful that different people require different approaches. As you expand into other communities, collaborate with the right stakeholders and maintain a respectful approach,” the emir told his guests.

Earlier, the NI-ABAE’s Senior Stakeholder Manager (SSM), Zaharadden Sabi’u, said his agency, after a survey, found that lack of transport fare was one of the major reasons parents and caregivers refused to take their children to designated centres for immunisation.

He said, “This is why NI-ABAE provides cash incentives totalling ₦6,000 throughout six visits to caregivers who bring their children for routine vaccinations against childhood killer diseases.”

He said since its launch in February in Kano, the All Babies programme is now operational across 41 LGAs in over 1,000 public primary healthcare facilities and has disbursed N528 million to caregivers and enrolled over 250,000 children for vaccination.