Center for Disease Control dissociate self from alleged military campaign against monkey pox in S’East

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control on Thursday dissociated itself from the rumoured monkey pox vaccine intervention by the military in schools in the south east.

National Coordinator of the Center, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, told the senate committee on primary healthcare and communicable diseases that the center has no relationship whatsoever with what the military was reportedly doing.

The National Coordinator who was invited by the Senate Committee chaired by Senator Moa Ohuabunwa, also informed the committee that there is no vaccine yet against monkey pox virus anywhere in the world, nothing therefore that what is being rumoured in the social media about the military forcing the purported vaccination on school children in the south east is unfounded.

“We have met with the military medical corps on the development and they confirmed to us that nothing of such is going on. It is a mare rumour, and it is not even our responsibility to embark on a nationwide vaccination.”

He insisted that the reported cases have not all been confirmed to be monkey pox as samples from the patients have been sent to a disease control laboratory in Dakar, Senegal for analysis.

However the Senate described as shameful and a national embarrassment, the fact that only one diagnostic laboratory for the detection of Monkey-Pox virus is available in the country.

The upper legislative chamber has therefore mandated the National Centre for Disease Control to include funds for the establishment of world class laboratories in the six geo political zones in the Centre’s 2018 budget.

The lawmakers were reacting to the reported 33 cases of monkey pox outbreak in seven states of the federation which the Disease control centre says were transmitted from infected animals such as rats, squirrels and others commonly referred to as bush meat.

Chris Emetoh, Abuja