Gombe — Health officials in Gombe and Akko Local Government Councils in Gombe State on Tuesday said that they have solved the problem of resistance to application of polio vaccines in six wards of the councils.

In Gombe council, the Immunisation Officer, Malam Abdulraham Mohammed, told journalists in Gombe that areas with high resistance cases such as Shamaki, Bolari West, Nasarawo and Pantami had been successfully settled.

Mohammed said no single case of non compliance was recorded in the areas due to the intervention of the ward committees, comprising traditional and religious leaders, who prevailed on parents to allow their children to be immunised.

"For example, in Shamaki Ward, the District Head, Alhaji Usman Mohammed, marked the houses that resisted the immunisation and they were revisited immediately and they complied," he said.

The official said out of 139,098 children targeted for immunisation, more than 113,287 children, representing 81.4 per cent, had received the vaccine since the exercise commenced on Saturday.

Similarly, Miss Lois Lakurbe, Primary Health Care Coordinator of Akko local council, confirmed that the level of resistance to the application of the vaccines had dropped significantly.

She said people in high resistant areas, including Kumo East and Tabra Ward had been persuaded by the ward committees to accept the vaccines, adding that the response had been very positive.