By Sade Oguntola

Copyright tribuneonlineng

The Oyo State government will launch an integrated measles-rubella vaccination programme for 3,694,610 children aged nine months to 14 years throughout its 33 local government areas on October 4th as part of its attempts to eradicate the disease.

Executive Chairman of the Oyo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OPHCDA), Dr Muideen Olatuni, who disclosed this at a media engagement at the state’s government secretariat, said the vaccination programme for measles and rubella will protect them against these diseases that can cause blindness, deafness and death.

Olatunji said measles is a highly contagious infection causing fever, cough, red eyes, and a distinctive blotchy rash and urged parents to protect their children by ensuring they get the vaccine.

He said, “They are like twin sisters, measles and rubella. The best thing, which we think is cheaper, is to prevent it from occurring. And any life lost cannot be brought back. So it’s better for us to make sure we prevent it from occurring, he said.

“We don’t need to convince anybody that the vaccine does not kill. At least we’ve seen it from several experiences we’ve had in the past. The government is trying to do a lot to give us quality health. The least we can do is to believe in the government, take up the intervention they are giving to us, and let everybody be better for it.

“This is the first time we are rolling the rubella campaign out. The measles-rubella vaccine, like any other vaccine, is free. All that you utilise to administer this vaccine is being provided free by the government.”

In his remarks, the board’s State Immunisation Officer, Mr Adedamola Adediran, said Anambra, Borno, and Oyo states had the highest measles outbreaks in 2025 in the country, and that is the reason Oyo State was picked for implementing the measles-rubella campaign in its Phase 1 in October.

He stated that Oyo State recorded 542 and 10 cases of measles and rubella, respectively, in 2024. In addition, 6 cases of rubella were recorded as of the end of April.

Mr Adediran stated that Nigeria has the second-highest measles rate after DRC in Africa, and so the measles-rubella vaccine introduction is to close immunity gaps, interrupt transmission of polio, measles and rubella infections and strengthen routine immunisation.

According to him, Nigeria is striving for a future where no child dies or is limited by the harmful effects of measles and rubella infections, and thus is carrying out measures to reduce measles and rubella incidence to less than one case per million and achieve elimination by 2030 in line with the National Measles Rubella Elimination Plan.

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