The Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ASPHDA) has announced that it is targeting vaccination of 388,180 girls aged nine to 14 years against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) to prevent them from cervical cancer.

The Executive Chairman of the agency, Dr. Suleiman Bashir revealed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Yola.

Bashir said the sensitisation and vaccination of girls against the virus were ongoing and would last for three months.

He added that the choice of girls aged between nine to 14 years for the vaccination was to protect and increase their immunity ahead of exposure to the virus.

In Borno and Yobe states, the exercise is yet to commence, while some people in the states said the vaccination is still a subject of controversy.

“People are saying that the vaccine is harmful to fertility, we need clarification on this allegation from the authorities concerned.

“Nobody is talking for now and until that allegation is clarified, many parents won’t allow their daughters to be vaccinated”, Abdulkareem Ali, a parent with four daughters in Maiduguri, said.

The Director, Public Health in Borno Ministry of Health, Dr Goni Abba, said the vaccination and enlightenment had yet to commence.

Abba said the vaccination was just launched last week in Abuja and that representatives of the state who were in Abuja just returned, and that the ministry needed to meet for the next line of action regarding the vaccination in the state.

In Yobe, where the exercise is also yet to commence, the Head of Programmes in the National Orientation Agency, Alhaji Sabiu Suleiman, said arrangements had been concluded to start an enlightenment campaign on the virus.

Source: NAN