Zorzor, Lofa County – The main hospital in Zorzor, Lofa County has begun vaccinating children under six to fifteen weeks old children with the Rota vaccine. The rota vaccine started in May this year and help built children immunity against diarrhea and other illnesses.
The head vaccinator at Zorzor Hospital, Mulbah Koiboi, wants parents to bring their children that are less than one year old for the vaccination, while complaining about the low turnout of mothers that should be bringing their children for the vaccines.
Speaking to a LocalVoicesLiberia reporter about the importance of the Rota vaccine, the district health officer (DH0), Daniel Fayiah said, the vaccine is ‘very good for children less than one year old because it helps prevent children from getting diarrhea and other sicknesses’.
Like Koiboi, Fayiah expressed regret over the low participation of children that are eligible for the vaccination.
A mother, who had taken her son for the vaccine, described it as good for children.
“The vaccine is good for children,” Krubo Forkpah said. “After every one month I take my son to the vaccine place for the vaccine and since I started carrying him there he is always looking healthy.”
Another mother, Deddeh Bryan, complains that the lack of publicity about the vaccination campaign.
“There is no awareness on air about the vaccine and when I gave birth to my daughter in hospital but the information was not clear about the vaccine,” Deddeh said, while calling on the authority to make more awareness.
The ROTA vaccines are administered after every one month at the various clinics and hospital in the district free of charge. Rotavirus vaccine is a vaccine used to protect against rota-virus infections. These viruses are the leading cause of severe diarrhea among young children. The vaccines prevent 15 to 34% of severe diarrhea in the developing world and 37 to 96% of severe diarrhea in the develop world. The vaccines appear to decrease the risk of death among young children due to diarrhea.
But Koiwu Mulbah, head vaccinator at the Curran Lutheran hospital, said there was awareness made on radio stations and at various clinic and health centers in the district. He, however, emphasized that there’s need for more awareness about the vaccination campaign in Lofa County.
Mulbah also encouraged mothers to carry their children that are less than 15 months for the vaccine after every one month.
Report By: Franklin Flomo
