President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will on Saturday March 6, 2021 receive the Covid-19 vaccine publicly.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the second edition of State House weekly ministerial briefing.
Shuaibu said the public vaccination of the two leaders was in order to thwart vaccine hesitancy which is reported to be increasing worldwide.
The second edition of the briefing is focused on Nigeria’s Response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in the last one year and especially the National Vaccination Response.
The NPHCDA Chief Executive said the number one and two citizens will receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after some frontline health workers are vaccinated on Friday.
The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 (PTF) and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha will also receive his first dose of the vaccine on the same day.
Precautionary measures still in place
The Director-General, of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control( NCDC), Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu, warned that as much as vaccines provide some very important light, the response of testing, surveillance, protecting health workers, investing in national health security, driving risk communications, etc. has to continue.
Director General of National Agency for Food Drugs and Administration Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, also warned that Falsified Covid-19 vaccines are already in the global market.
She said: “That’s why NAFDAC is focusing on track-and-trace, to ensure no infiltration of substandard vaccines in supply chain. Traceability is very important; we can trace the vaccines from airport to the patient.”
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, warned that as a country, Nigeria has been lucky so far but, “we must not stretch our luck. We must continue with our non-pharmaceutical measures.
We must look at vaccine as a game changer, but make no mistake that it’s a replacement for everything else.
It is an additional strategy. Vaccines are an addition to the existing Response, not a Replacement”.
Details later.
Nneka Ukachukwu
