The state government will launch an integrated vaccination program against Rubella measles for 3,694,610 children from nine months to 14 years throughout its 33 areas of the local government on October 4 as part of its attempts to eradicate the disease.
The executive president of the Primary Health Care Development Agency of the State of Oyo (OPHCDA), Dr. Muideen Olatuni, who revealed this in a media participation in the State Government Secretariat, said that the measles and rubella vaccination program will protect them against these diseases that can cause blindness, deafness and death.
Olatunji said that measles is a highly contagious infection that causes fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive spotted eruption and urged parents to protect their children by ensuring that they get the vaccine.
He said: “They are like twin sisters, measles and rubella. The best, what we believe is cheaper, is to prevent it from happening. And any lost life cannot be brought. Therefore, it is better for us to make sure to prevent it from happening, he said, he said.
“We do not need to convince anyone that the vaccine does not mate. At least we have seen it from several experiences that we have had in the past. The government is trying to do a lot to give us a quality health. The least we can do is believe in the government, to assume the intervention they are giving us and let everyone be better for it.
“This is the first time we are launching the rubella campaign. The measles-rubella vaccine, like any other vaccine, is free. Everything he uses to administer this vaccine is being free for the government.”
In his comments, the state immunization officer of the Board, Adedamola Adediran, said Anambra, Borno and the Oyo states had the highest measles outbreaks in 2025 in the country, and that is the reason why Oyo State was chosen to implement the measles-rubella campaign in its phase 1 in October.
He said that the state of Oyo registered 542 and 10 cases of measles and rubella, respectively, in 2024. In addition, 6 cases of rubella were recorded at the end of April.
Mr. Adediran declared that Nigeria has the second highest measles rate after the RDC in Africa, so the introduction of the rubella measles vaccine is to close the immunity gaps, interrupt the transmission of polyomyelitis, measles and rubella infections and strengthen routine immunization.
According to him, Nigeria strives for a future in which no child dies or is limited by the harmful effects of measles and rubella infections, and therefore is carrying out measures to reduce measles and the incidence of rubella to less than one case per million and achieve the elimination by 2030 in line with the elimination plan of the rubella of national suspicion.
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