Enugu, Nigeria 07 July 2015 - As at 01 July 2015, the five states in the south east geo-political zone of Nigeria, namely Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, have completed the introduction of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into their respective state routine immunization (RI). The zone was included in the second phase of the IPV introduction which began in May 2015.

One of the criteria for evaluating readiness for global switch from trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) is the accelerated introduction of IPV into the RI schedule. Nigeria introduced the IPV into the national RI schedule with the first phase on 20 February, 2015.

Launching the IPV into the Abia State RI schedule on 01 July 2015,   the permanent secretary in the state ministry of health, Mr. Agomuo Nwachukwu stated that “Abia State will continue to work in concert with the Federal Government of Nigeria and development partners to ensure the complete eradication of the wild polio virus (WPV) and circulating vaccine derived polio virus (cVDPV) through the introduction of IPV as part of the polio endgame strategy”.

The states in the south east have already received 257,364 doses of IPV from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency to ensure the smooth introduction of the antigen into the RI schedule and adequate supply for the third quarter

In preparing the states to effectively introduce the IPV, World Health Organization (WHO) officers in the south east supported their individual states of assignment to train 475 programme officers at the state level and 7,059 health workers from both private and public facilities on IPV. Furthermore, the states in the zone conducted robust media enlightenment by supporting prime time radio programmes and jingles as well as sensitization activities with pediatricians and other clinicians within their states. 

“Across the states, there was good acceptance of the vaccine and so far, no reported adverse events following immunization have been reported despite active monitoring supported by WHO”, Dr Rosemary Onyibe, the WHO zonal coordinator in the south east stated.

The south east zone has remained polio free for over five years due to relatively strong RI. The introduction of IPV into the RI schedule in the zone will further boost population immunity and forestall any polio importations.

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For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts:

Dr Pascal Mkanda; Tel: +234 803 402 2140; Email: mkandap [at] who.int
Dr Rosemary Onyibe;; Tel: +234 706 418 5004 ; Email: onyiber [at] who.int
Media contact:

Ms Charity Warigon; Tel: +234 810 221 0093; Email: warigonc [at] who.int