The Federal Government has vaccinated no fewer than 4.7 million girls against the Human Papillomavirus in the first phase of the vaccine rollout in Nigeria.
The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Muyi Aina, disclosed this at the fourth quarter 2023 review meeting of the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care delivery in Abuja on Monday.
Aina said, “As of last week, about 4.7 million of our adolescent girls across the 14 states and the FCT in Phase 1 of the rollout, have received the vaccine offering them protection against future risk of cervical cancer.
“There was an initial strong pushback by antivaccine campaigners, but with your help, we were able to get accurate information across to our parents, guardians and adolescents.
The work is not finished, and we count on you to continue to let our people know that the HPV vaccine is safe and highly effective against cervical cancer, especially as we plan to expand to the rest of the states in the new year.”
HPV is a viral infection that causes skin or mucous membrane growth. It is the most common sexually transmitted infection.
The HPV vaccine prevents infection by certain types of HPV.
