The United Nations (UN) has moved to accelerate the delivery of vaccine across Nigeria inorder to further curtail the wave of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and its variants in the country.
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The UN said accelerating the vaccine delivery is strategic in order to scale up the present 6.7 per cent vaccine coverage in the country.
UN Global Lead Coordinator of COVID-19 Vaccine Country Readiness and Delivery, Mr. Ted Chaiban gave the commitment during an inspection of Kano emergency response on COVID-19 and vaccines cold store facilities.
He said significant success is being attained in the area of COVID-19 vaccine supply, especially to developing countries but more needs to be done
“Getting the jab across to the population is still a daunting task,” he said.
He said with issues of accute vaccine shortage overcommed and with assistance from UNICEF, World Bank and other partners supplies are being accelerated.
He said part of the measure to grow vaccination is increase in the number of vaccination team and opening of more points of delivery, essentially at public and marketplace for easy access, while advocating for the engagement of traditional and religious leaders in the campaign.
“Among the measures agreed to is doing state-by-state plan or one plan one-budget at state level, increasing the number of vaccination teams, so that you have more team in each of the wards across the country.
Also, part of strategies is, using existing community volunteers to mobilize the population and accelerate delivery and continuous investment in cold chain so that the vaccines will be saved in store said Mr. Ted.
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who received the UN delegation in Government House, Kano, requested “the establishment of a vaccine hub in the state to meet the needs of the large population.”
Narrating how the state government successfully curtailed the spread of the virus in the state, he hinted that ” the state attained 21 per cent vaccine coverage in the last two months” , a development he attributed to intensified community mobilisation.
The UN delegate, who agreed that setting up cold hub in Kano would strengthen COVID-19 vaccination, assured the government of plans to establish such hub in Kano.
