First phase of HPV vaccination to reach 6 million girls – IVAC

At a two-day workshop for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Community Health Influencers Promoters and Services (CHIPs), conducted on Thursday in Abuja, Dr. Chizoba Wonodi, the center’s Country Director, said this.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the training’s goal was to further the campaign.

To help with the introduction of the vaccine in Nigeria, the training was organised by IVAC in collaboration with Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA) and Direct Consulting and Logistics.

Wonodi, who is also the convener of WAVA, stated that boys were not intended to receive the vaccine; only girls between the ages of nine and 14 were.

He noted that younger females who have not been exposed to the HPV infection benefit from it the most.

She claimed that the illness is a typical infection that most women contract once they begin having sex and that it lacks symptoms.

The vaccine, she claimed, has been around for a long, but Nigeria had only recently received authorisation from the international organisation to acquire it.

“The manufacturers of HPV vaccinations actually increased, I believe from two to many manufacturers, and even among the historically significant manufacturers, those who began out first have greatly improved their manufacturing capacity.

“Also, the single dose is a now-approved regimen that has been demonstrated to operate equally well.

Accordingly, there is adequate supply for a large country like Nigeria to introduce the single dose vaccine, and they gained Gavi permission in 2022 to do so. Nigeria is intending to adopt the single dosage vaccine.

She emphasised that every vaccine is unique and that anticipated effects, if any, would be moderate. She also spoke about probable reactions to the vaccine after administration.

According to her, the effects include a little soreness at the injection site, a tiny bit of fever that may last a day or less, and in rare cases, a rash.

However, Wonodi noted that although the anticipated reactions are mildly common reactions, some persons may experience negative effects.

This is the reason the government set up a surveillance system so that each immunised girl could report them if they occur.

She mentioned that there were roughly 40 attendees total, representing all the area councils in the FCT.

In the first phase, the FCT and more than 200 CSOs and CHIPS agents in the 15 participating states had received training, she continued.

“These CSOs will now cascade to the ward level CSOs and people who want to support the rollout effort,” the CSOs said.

“This is one of our campaigns, where we help the government introduce the vaccine and train or motivate CSOs to engage the community and create demand.

“We are focused on CSOs because they are rooted in the grassroots and because there is a lot of awareness-raising that needs to take place and all hands need to be on deck.

“They have other programmes that they have put into place, and the people trust many of them. As a result, she said, when a new vaccine like this is available, you need reliable ambassadors who can go out to the locals and get their support.

Phase one of the immunisation scheme will begin on September 25 with a national inauguration and a five-day vaccination campaign that will include 15 states and the FCT, according to NAN.

In the first quarter of 2024, phase two will be implemented in the remaining 21 states.

Following the introduction of immunisation, girls will receive the HPV vaccine as part of their regular immunisation plan.

Teenage girls between the ages of nine and fourteen will be given the HPV vaccine for free as part of immunisation programmes to prevent cervical cancer, which is the second biggest cause of cancer-related deaths in Nigerian women. (NAN)