Immunisation drive against meningitis launched

Nigeria said on Thursday it had launched an immunisation campaign against cerebro-spinal meningitis in 23 of its 36 states considered susceptible to the disease and in the capital Abuja. The National Programme of Immunisation said in a statement it had begun distributing millions of vaccine doses to the affected states in central and northern Nigeria. These states were expected to complete the vaccination exercise before the end of November, it added. Meningitis is a highly infectious disease that usually sweeps parts of central and northern Nigeria during the hot dry season months between November and April, often with fatal consequences. In past years hundreds of people have died in such outbreaks. But the National Programme of Immunisation said the number of cases and fatalities had declined significantly in the past four years following the launch on an annual vaccination programme to check the spread of the disease. It urged those states that had received the vaccines to ensure that all people under the age of 30 were immunised before the end of November.