The mass vaccination, starting Tuesday, 18th to 23rd October, 2022, targets 341,446 children aged 9-59 months old across the country.
In addition, children aged 6-59 months will have supplementary vitamin A and de-worming tablets. Thus, health officials would use the opportunity to vaccinate children, who missed their routine vaccines.
At a press briefing held on Tuesday at the Central Medical Store in Kotu, Mbaye Njie, deputy programme manager on Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), said the exercise is an integrated one and they will also be supplementing children aged 6-59 months with vitamin A and de-worming tablets.
However, he added that, health officials would use the opportunity to vaccinate children, who missed their routine vaccines.
Also speaking, Modou Njai, director of Health Promotion and Education at the Ministry of Health, explained that vaccination teams and social mobilizers would be fixed at Community Bantabas, Day Care Centres, Nursery Schools, Markets, Ferry Crossing Points, Health Centres and in strategic locations in the communities to vaccinate all eligible children.
The vaccine in use, he added, is safe and effective as proven by World Health Organization (WHO) and partners.
“Therefore, vaccination remains a top priority in the Ministry of Health’s agenda, thus all children under the age of five years must be vaccinated for the country to eliminate Measles and Rubella.”
Njai thus called on parents, caregivers and guardians to make best use of the opportunity, acknowledging that people should not misconstrue this exercise.
The Gambia, he added, had been conducting similar exercise for a long time, further calling on all to make their children available at these mentioned centres to get vaccinated.
“We therefore, encourage all parents, caregivers and guardians to come with their children to these vaccination centres.”
In her power presentation, Aja Kandeh, communication officer on the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), said the move is in response to current measles outbreak in the country, where there have been some confirmed laboratory cases across the country.
“Another reason is to strengthen routine immunisation services in the country.”
Meanwhile, vaccinating children with Measles-Rubella vaccines is proven be a good strategy to break the chain of transmission of the virus among the population.
