SEGUN BABATUNDE, Bauchi
Bauchi State Government has debunked media reports that the state recorded 38 new cases of Wild Polio Virus.
Executive Chairman, State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, who spoke during a press briefing, on Tuesday, said the report was a misrepresentation of his speech during the inauguration of 2022 OBR1 vaccination campaign, last Saturday.
Mohammed explained that there was nothing like new Wild Polio Virus in his speech, noting that the last reported case of the virus in the state was in 2013.
He, however, said what was stated in his speech was Circulating Mutant Polio Viruses, which were vaccine-driven polio viruses, being found in a dirty environment and causes no paralysis in children.
According to him, the state has detected 38 Circulating Vaccine-Driven Polio viruses out of the 315 samples collected from January to December 2021.
Mohammed said the development was an indication that more effort needs to be deployed to protect children of the state from getting infected.
He called on Nigerians and the international community to disregard the purported unverified reports, describing it as fake news.
The BSPHCDA boss also urged newsmen to always verify their stories before publishing them.