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Be Warned, We Have No Money For Vaccination! – Health Min. Alerts Nigerians On Meningitis Outbreak

Published

7 years ago

January 15, 2018

The minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has appealed to Nigerians to be on the look out for suspected cases of outbreak of meningitis, saying the country is already approaching its season.

Professor Adewole made this appeal in Ibadan, Oyo State over the weekend while speaking with the members of Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria, on some of his ministry’s preparedness to curtail any reported outbreak of CSM.

The Minister said the alert is important because the country has no money to vaccinate all Nigerians.

He said it is known that meningitis is seasonal and this is the season, “that is why we are saying Nigerians should be on the lookout for it. It is so easy to treat. The vaccine is expensive. When a case is detected we have an epidemic threshold then we quickly vaccinate people in the Local Governments, that is the best we can do for now. When we are more prosperous then we can vaccinate everybody.”

Prof Adewole added that the conjugate vaccine will protect everybody for 10 years, the polyvalent vaccine for three years, as he added that for now both are expensive, The Nation reports.