By Suzan Edeh
Following the MenAfriVac (meningitis) immunization campaign in the five northern states of Bauchi, Jigawa, Kastina, Gombe and Zamfara, local governments in Bauchi have lamented inadequate storage capacity for the vaccines, even as the exercise recorded mass turnout in the local governments.

Our correspondent, who monitored the immunization in six local governments of Danbam, Ningi, Warji, Ganguwa,Darazo and Misau, said most of the vaccines required for the exercise lacked adequate storage facilities, thereby making the local governments to resort to alternative ways of storage.

Some of the immunization officers at the local governments attributed the poor storage capacity to the challenge usually associated with conducting immunization.

Mohammed Sule, an immunization officer at Ningi local government, said storing the vaccines had posed a great challenge at the local government, because the vaccines needed to be stored at a certain degree temperature to prevent it from losing efficacy, which, according to him, is quite cost demanding for the local government.

In the same vein, the immunization officer for Darazo local government, Ahmed Idi, decried inadequate storage capacity for the vaccines, saying that the local government, because of the challenge, received only 187,400 vaccines as against the requirement of 218,570.

He called on the authorities to make adequate provision of storage facilities in future immunization, saying that such preparation will enable the local government to run the exercise successfully.