The Kwara Government in Ilorin advised residents to disregard malicious rumours intended to create mistrust in people on routine vaccinations in the state.

Dr Amina El-Imam, the state Commissioner for Health, who made the appeal during a news conference on Tuesday, observed that such misinformation is intended to dissuade citizens from getting vaccination.

She also dismissed rumours that the state government would use military personnel to force people get their children immunised.

El-Imam explained that a voice recorded message is making rounds on social media using “cheap malicious tactics” to mislead people.

The commissioner emphasised that vaccines save lives as most dangerous life threatening diseases had been eradicated.

El-Imam explained that, “The state government has never employed any forceful component including using military personnel to force anyone to receive vaccine.”

The commissioner pointed out that in every vaccination exercise, both nationally or internationally, the vaccines were verified before administration to the people.

She reiterated that the state government was fully committed towards safeguarding the health of women, children and the citizenry as a whole.

El-Imam reminded that the issue of disinformation as regards vaccines did not start today, and it’s not peculiar to Kwara or Nigeria.

She stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were series of misinformation that triggered people to ask questions.

She also observed that disinformation on social media tend to generate traffic for these individuals and their websites.

The commissioner therefore appealed to residents to disregard such malicious content, and continue to protect their children with vaccines and use mosquito nets to guard against malaria.

“We are too advanced to go back to the dark ages of vaccine rejection,” she warned.