Omicron: FG to integrate COVID-19 campaign with childhood immunization
…14,093, 873 persons so far received first dose while 416,980 Nigerians received booster dose
…No death recorded arising from COVID-19 Vaccination — Shuaib
By Gloria Akudoro, Abuja
In its commitment in combating the various stages of COVID-19 and protecting the lives of its citizens, Federal Government has again set plans to integrate COVID-19 mass vaccination with childhood immunization in all the 36 States of the federation.
Disclosing this to the general public yesterday in Abuja, the Executive Director/CEO, Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, stated that the reason for the integration is to make available childhood immunization alongside the COVID-19 vaccines at every vaccination sites.
“What this simply means is that alongside the COVID-19 vaccines, childhood vaccines will also be available at COVID-19 vaccination sites. Consequently, parents or guardians with children aged zero to 23 months are urged to take them along to the vaccination sites. The childhood vaccines protect against polio, whooping cough, measles, yellow fever, tetanus, tuberculosis, and other childhood preventable diseases.
“This is to ensure that while we are trying so hard to control the transmission of COVID-19, we do not neglect other PHC services or even have outbreaks of childhood vaccine preventable diseases on our hands,” he explained.
The Executive Director therefore enjoined colleagues, friends and loved ones to go to the vaccination sites or health centres nearest to them with their zero to 23 months old children for vaccination against COVID-19 and childhood vaccine-preventable diseases.
However, Dr. Shuaib has decried the rapid increase of Omicron variant still being highly infectious with a BA.2 sub-variant rapidly spreading with more citizens coming down with the infection.
He said, “Luckily for our vaccinated population, those who came down with the COVID-19 infection had mild symptoms which they managed at home due to the immunity the vaccination provided them. If they were not vaccinated, we cannot predict how these cases would have turned out. Vaccination prevents you from severe disease, hospitalization and death.
“The reason for the emergence of these variants, is because there is still a large proportion of the eligible population who have not yet been vaccinated and this has given the virus time to mutate and fight back. It is important that we protect ourselves and our loved ones by getting the jab.
“Our vaccination exercise was expanded to enable all eligible persons have easier access. All vaccination sites are open to eligible persons, 18 years and above for first, second and booster doses. We call on Nigerians to avail themselves of this opportunity in the on-going mass vaccination exercise to get vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Recall that last year, Nigeria introduced booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine on the 10th of December 2021, following the recommendation by World Health Organization (WHO) for people who have received two doses of AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer Bio-N-Tech or one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
While commending the exemplary leadership style of President Muhammadu Buhari for haven received his booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday the 21st of December 2021, Dr. Shuaib said, “So far, 416,980 Nigerians have received their booster dose. Again, this is a clear indication that many more Nigerians are determined to achieve maximum protection against COVID-19.”
As the Executive Director commended the invaluable support of the media in creating awareness and mobilizing Nigerians for COVID-19 vaccine uptake, he disclosed that as of Tuesday January 25th 2022, records show that 14,093,873 eligible persons have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria while 5,252,406 eligible Nigerians have been fully vaccinated.
In the spirit of transparency and accountability, the Executive Director revealed few states that performed greatly in the COVID-19 campaign with distinct results are Nasarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Ogun and Kwara emerging as the top five performing states on COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
Adding that Jigawa and Lagos have each vaccinated about 1.5million eligible Nigerians with the first dose, while FCT, Nasarawa, Lagos and Delta are leading on second dose administration with more than 10% of eligible populations in each of the states already vaccinated.
Dr. Shuaib however enjoined other Governors to work with LGA Chairmen, traditional, political, religious leaders and the health team and charged them with the responsibility of ensuring that the populace within their constituencies are duly vaccinated, develop a daily, weekly and monthly COVID-19 and Childhood vaccination targets based on the total eligible populations.
He said Governors can also apply accountability mechanisms to the vaccination process by publically rewarding LGA teams that perform the highest and sanctions teams that do not meet the minimum requirements despite the supports. This can be done in a fortnightly ceremony where the Governor shakes the best performers and issue certificates or plaques of excellence.
“We want to acknowledge the strong leadership displayed by many Governors in ensuring that their citizens are vaccinated and encourage them to do even more, so we can further improve our vaccination coverage. Last year, the daily COVID-19 vaccination coverage was about 100,000 people per day. Between December 2021 and January 2022, we have more than doubled this vaccination rate to over 200,000 per day. With the talents and capabilities of Nigerians, I know we can do better and we must improve to we protect all Nigerians.”
ED Shuaib also reiterated that till date, Nigeria has not recorded any death arising from COVID-19 vaccination. Adding that this would further serve to convince everyone that COVID-19 vaccines are safe. “Let me therefore remind all Nigerians, that the second and booster doses are critical to achieving high protection against the virus especially as it keeps mutating.”
While advising the general public to remain law abiding citizens and compliant with safety measures on COVID-19, he said Joint Task Force on COVID-19 vaccine monitoring and accountability is still very active and vigilant as Federal Government is on alert for any report of card vending and other unlawful activities on COVID-19 vaccination.
