The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S CDC) says 11,000 cases of Rubella representing one third of all Rubella cases in the world is found in Nigeria.
Epidemiologist, CDC Nigeria GID, Dr. Joseph Forbi disclosed this on Tuesday, while fielding questions from journalists at Media Roundtable held in Abuja.
Explaining why the Federal Government of Nigeria and the U.S CDC was introducing the Rubella vaccine into its immunization program, Forbi informed
the vaccine was not new but had been existing since 1969.
“It is not a new vaccine, almost all countries have already introduced it. Nigeria is coming late, a few countries in West and East Africa are the only ones that have not introduced this vaccine.
“The big reason we are introducing it in Nigeria is that mathematical modeling have shown that One-third Of all Rubella cases in the world are in Nigeria. This means that about 11,000 cases of Rubella are in Nigeria, so it is just wise we introduce the vaccine at this time.
“The consequences of Rubella are the congenital Rubella syndrome, that is why we are trying to prevent it with this vaccine”, he said.
He disclosed that the U.S CDC was supporting Nigeria to set up 8 sentinel surveillance sites in the different geopolitical zones of the country to monitor and test for Rubella. “We have also supplied Rubella test kits and testing for Rubella is ongoing in the entire country”, he added.
Similarly, the Program Director, CDC Nigeria GID, Dr. Patricia Tanifum, on why Nigeria was introducing the vaccine now, she said there were many vaccines out there and many diseases as well, but countries determine when to introduce the vaccine depending on the burden of the disease and the cost effectiveness of using vaccine as opposed to any other intervention.
“For Nigeria, the country determined that this was the time to introduce the Rubella vaccine because of the disease burden and its cost effectiveness. As we introduce Rubella vaccine in this wide age range campaign, the burden could reduce significantly.
“We are targeting Congenital Rubella Syndrome, which is a condition in children at birth with a lot of malformations; sight, hearing, cardiac and we do not want that to happen in Nigeria, that’s why the country has taken the decision to introduce the vaccine”, she said.
