Nigeria begins mass vaccination drive to fight meningitis outbreak

Nearly 3,000 suspected cases of meningitis reported in the past few weeks in Nigeria.

The Nigerian government says there aren't enough vaccine doses to deal with the outbreak.
TRT World and Agencies

The Nigerian government says there aren't enough vaccine doses to deal with the outbreak.

Health workers in Nigeria have commenced a mass vaccination programme to stop an outbreak of meningitis that has killed over 330 people.

The emergency response includes vaccination campaigns across the affected states, beginning on Wednesday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said on Tuesday.

"The team will also deploy and coordinate a robust national communication and social mobilisation campaign, focused on (meningitis) prevention and control in rural and urban areas of affected states," the centre said.

But the Nigerian government says there aren't enough vaccine doses to deal with the outbreak that has spread across 16 out of 36 states.

​Nigerian authorities are now looking to the World Health Organization for help.

TRT World's Fidelis Mbah has more details.

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