Ondo State governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has charged community leaders to preach the gospel of immunization in Churches, mosques and the community at large so as to help government in its efforts towards total eradication of polio.

Akeredolu said the primary healthcare can only be effective when the trio of government, health workers and community members work hand in hand at all times.

The governor commended all those who have been involved in the onerous duty of combating polio virus in the state. He hailed the team led by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro for sustaining the tempo on Polio eradication in the state.

Governor Akeredolu spoke at the State Task Force meeting on Polio eradication and Routine Immunization, held at the Cocoa Conference Hall, governor's office, Alagbaka, Akure on Monday.

He said : "As a traditional ruler, how much of the gospel of immunisation do you tell your community members during important community events and other avenues? Are our town criers at village levels still up and doing about community sensitisation? At the level of the 203 wards across the 18 LGAs, are the Ward Development Committee (WDC) members still committed to their communal tasks?

"Do churches and mosques still talk about immunisation during and after service to orientate their congregation and dispel immunisation myths?

The Governor also charged the media to take part in the sensitization roles of polio as their corporate Social responsibility by airing jingles on immunization on radio and television stations.

"Is the media ready to give more free slots, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, for our immunisation jingles to air on radio and television stations?

The governor also called for a sense of patriotism amongst the health workers and the people so as to prevent any incidence of Polio virus and other vaccine-preventable diseases in the State.

He added that the honest attitude of the rebranded primary healthcare workers towards Routine Immunisation services across the 18 LGAs of the State has begun to yield fruits.

He said : "As you all know, the benchmark used in assessing our vaccination effort is the 3rd dose of Pentavalent vaccine (Penta-3) and the records have it that State’s real Penta-3 coverage for January-December 2018 is 79%. This is the true picture of our recent records and renewed attitude. "

Governor Akeredolu said his administration will continue to improve the working condition of health workers to boost their morale towards delivery of immunization and other services.

He said " As a responsible and responsive government that has recently employed hundreds of health workers for the secondary facilities managed by the State Hospitals’ Management Board (HMB) despite lean resources, we shall continue to improve the working condition of our health workers to boost their morale towards delivery of immunization and other services. "

The governor appreciated the development partners - the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and the supervising agency of the Federal Government – the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), for their supports.