By Hassan Zaggi
The Federal Government has expressed deep concern over the low level of COVID-19 vaccine uptake so far by Nigerians.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, who expressed the concern at the flag off of mass vaccination in Abuja, Friday, revealed that as at November 18, 2021, “just 5,985,049 persons have been vaccinated with the 1st dose, with 3,336,866 of these receiving their second dose, as of 18th November 2021, out of a target population of 111,776,503. From these figures, we can see that we are not where we want to be with the pace of vaccination.”
He said the low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine by Nigerians necessitated the formal launch of the mass vaccination by the federal government.
“It is in the light of this that the Presidential Steering Committee, the Federal Ministry of Health, and National Primary Healthcare Development Agency reviewed the vaccine delivery strategy and decided to start the next phase of National Vaccine Deployment Plan and set up mass vaccination sites.
“This simply means expanding vaccination points to all primary, secondary, and tertiary hospitals, engaging Company hospitals Staff Clinics, Private hospitals and, now, public spaces, like this ace, for fast access to vaccination for those who keep postponing.
“Our aim is to have vaccinated 55 million residents of Nigeria by the end of January, 2022, which is 50% of our target population. We have enough vaccines and assurance of flow of high quality vaccines from many sources to be certain that we can sustain the campaign to meet the deadline we have set for ourselves.”
He noted that his ministry has concluded plans to maintain and sustain the energy it has so far demonstrated and strive for herd immunity, “which we had calculated to be by vaccinating at least 70% of our eligible population; but our preference is to exceed that target, because lessons we learn from observing developments in other countries, is that we need to aim higher than 70%, to be more assured of protecting the health of most Nigerians.”
Ehanire, however, reiterated that the ambition can succeed only with mass mobilization and participation of citizens. He noted that the Federal Government is committed to providing safe and efficacious Covid-19 vaccines and dispensing them backed with accountability and transparency, stressing that all vaccines are tagged and tracked by NAFDAC to ensure that quality and potency is maintained in the supply chain.
Speaking, the Executive Director of the National Primarhy Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, noted that mass vaccination is an integral component of his agency’s service delivery strategy which takes COVID-19 vaccination beyond primary Healthcare (PHC) Centers.
“What this simply means is that, in addition to PHC centers, we are creating vaccination sites in secondary health care facilities (hospitals, University health Center/Clinics), pharmacy Stores, Mosques, Churches, Corporate offices, private health care facilities (private hospitals/clinics), etc.
“We believe that wherever you may be in this country, you will find a vaccination site close to you. This is to provide all Nigerians easier access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We are also creating temporary vaccination posts and leveraging fixed and outreach routine immunization sessions,” he said.
He, therefore, advised states that were yet to flag off or commence mass vaccination to expedite actions towards doing so as they continue the on-going vaccination.
“We do not expect any state to suspend ongoing vaccination until mass vaccination is flagged off. All states should continue vaccination and fast track actions to commence mass vaccination. Let us also remember that mass vaccination requires mass mobilization of eligible persons to the vaccination sites.
“If large numbers of vaccination sites are in place, and people are not adequately mobilized, the turn out will be poor.
“To this end, we urge all the states to ensure that the list of all vaccination sites is published across different media platforms. Let there be sufficient public service announcements on radio, TV and social media,” he stressed.
