The federal government has been urged by the World Health Organization (WHO) to increase routine vaccination rates in order to prevent outbreaks.
During a media conference held online, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus made the decision.
According to Mr. Tedros, there is a serious diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria. He claims that over 9000 suspected cases have been reported across 17 states, resulting in 307 fatalities.
He declared, “This is the second wave of diphtheria this year.
The WHO director stated that diphtheria is a highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease caused by a bacterium that has a mortality rate that is higher in young children and can be fatal in five to ten percent of cases.
He claimed that WHO was working with the government to enhance risk communication, surveillance, and immunization programs.
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“We are also collaborating with partners to improve vaccine and antitoxin access. This outbreak and others show the importance of increasing routine vaccination to halt outbreaks before they begin, according to the head of the WHO.
In relation to COVID-19, he stated that the WHO had continued to observe worrying trends for the virus in advance of the northern hemisphere winter.
According to Mr. Tedros, deaths are rising in some regions of the Middle East and Asia.
Mr. Tedros noted that “hospitalizations are rising in several regions and ICU admissions are rising in Europe.” But he lamented the fact that “data is limited.”
Only 43 countries, or less than a quarter of the WHO member states, he claims, report deaths to the organization, and only 20 do the same for hospitalizations.
“There is no dominant variant on a global scale. The XBB sub-variants are declining, while the interesting variant EG.5 is increasing. Small numbers of the BA.2.86 variant have been found in 11 nations, Mr. Tedros continued. The WHO is closely monitoring this variant to determine its potential impact and rate of transmission.
According to Mr. Tedros, one of WHO’s main worries is the small number of at-risk individuals who have recently received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The organization’s advice, according to him, was to administer the recommended additional dose right away.
The COVID-19 global strategic preparedness and response plan has an annex, according to Mr. Tedros, “which further supports countries in five critical areas.”
