Diphtheria: FG deploys 500,000 vaccine doses to Katsina, Kano

The Federal Government has deployed 500,000 diphtheria vaccine doses to Katsina and Kano states. An emergency task force has been activated to contain the outbreak of the disease among children in the two states.

In Kano, the state government has reported 32 diphtheria cases in Rano Local Government Area, with 29 deaths recorded between July 2023 and August 2024, according to the Kano State Centre for Disease Control. The centre's Director-General, Professor Muhammad Adamu Abbas, said that 94 per cent of those affected had not been vaccinated.

The Kano State Government has also disputed reports of 50 child deaths from diphtheria in Rano, saying that this figure is not supported by official surveillance data. The government reported that most of those affected presented late for treatment.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Punch Nigeria, Daily Post Nigeria — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.