Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu has officially flagged off the March 2026 Polio Vaccination Campaign on Friday,bMarch 6, at the Palace of the District Head of Kware.

The campaign, which is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, March 7th, targeted 1.2 million children under 5 years for routine immunisation across Sokoto State.

Governor Aliyu, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Muhammad Bello Sifawa, emphasized that the campaign aims to interrupt the transmission of the circulating variant polio virus type 2 and ensure no child in the State is paralyzed by this preventable disease.

He stated that the campaign, which runs from March 7th to 10th, 2026, is not business as usual, as they have adopted a more aggressive approach and strategy through the co-administration of Novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (NOPV2) and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).

This dual approach will ensure comprehensive protection of children against multiple strains of the virus.

To ensure total coverage, the technical team has trained and deployed a massive workforce across all 244 wards in the 23 local government areas of the state.

Additionally, 2,830 house-to-house teams, 488 special teams, and 321 fixed post teams have been mobilized to provide routine immunisation services.

The Governor urged local government chairmen and traditional rulers to ensure zero tolerance for non-compliance and warned that any official found sabotaging efforts or mismanaging operational funds would face sanctions.

Dr. Bello Muhammad Marnona, Special Adviser on Primary Healthcare, said the exercise aims to immunize children and plans are underway to recruit additional medical personnel.

Representatives from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, World Health Organisation (WHO), and UNICEF urged community participation, saying many children are at risk of polio.