According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the states of Ogun, Nasarawa, Oyo, Osun, and Ekiti have led the way in increasing COVID-19 vaccination coverage.
The disclosure was made by the NPHCDA Executive Director, Dr Faisal Shuiab, on Monday in Abuja at the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) National Briefing on COVID-19.
“We’ve been keeping an eye on how states are ramping up COVID-19 vaccination. We ranked them based on their performance.
“As of today, the top five states are as follows: 1st: Ogun State, 2nd: Nasarawa State, 3rd: Oyo State, 4th: Osun State, and 5th: Ekiti State.”
“We will continue to provide you with daily updates on how governors of states are leading the fight to guarantee their populations are adequately protected with COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
Shuiab stated that starting on December 1, 2021, Federal Government employees would be required to show evidence of being vaccinated against COVID-19, or a negative PCR result obtained within 72 hours, before being allowed into their offices.
“In order to make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to government employees, we have also begun office-to-office vaccination in Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies” (MDAs).
“What this simply means is that employees who have not yet been vaccinated will find a vaccination site near their workplace where they can register and get vaccinated.”
“This will help to eliminate the excuse of having to leave their place of employment to travel to a distant vaccination site,” he said.
According to Shuiab, civil servants will be randomly selected from time to time to check or assess their COVID-19 antibody titre in order to detect individuals who may have obtained the vaccination fraudulently.
“Anyone discovered to have illegally gotten the vaccination card without vaccination would be handed over to law enforcement authorities.”
“The vaccines are free and available at locations near you.”
“We have also engaged and are partnering with the Nigerian Military, Police, and Para-Military institutions in the creation of mass vaccination centers in respective locations around the country.”
“We will also help with the deployment of our vaccination teams to all sites identified by these institutions,” he added.
Shuiab urged Nigerians and residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
He claimed that each COVID-19 infection allowed the coronavirus to mutate, and that being vaccinated helped prevent variants.
“At this point, we would also like to dispel the myth that if someone has had COVID-19 disease and recovered from it, they are immune and do not need to be vaccinated.”
“This is false because studies have shown that if you have had COVID-19 before and have not been vaccinated, your risk of reinfection is more than two times higher than those who have been infected and have been vaccinated.”
“We are aware that people are hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for a variety of reasons, including personal beliefs and fears, as well as logistical issues with getting to vaccination sites.”
“However, delaying vaccination for too long allows the virus to continue spreading in the community through the emergence of new variants.”
“Severe COVID-19 can be very dangerous,” he said, “so the sooner you get vaccinated, the sooner you’ll be protected.”
According to the NPHCDA director, this is a period of intense effort to protect Nigerians from this new variant, which is a 4th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated that the Agency was not taking anything for granted and was not compromising on safety and standards, but was instead closely monitoring all adverse events that occurred following immunization (AEFI).
“However, as I have always emphasized, we require the support of all Nigerians.”
“We need every vaccinated Nigerian to urge their family members, loved ones, neighbors, and community members to get vaccinated so that we can all be protected.”
“It is a collective responsibility,” he stated.
According to him, this is a wake-up call for those who have yet to be vaccinated to act quickly and take advantage of our mass vaccination campaign to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
Shuiab advised those who had received their first dose to go and get their second dose on their due dates in order to be fully protected.