The Federal Government has said that 3,487,298 eligible persons in Nigeria have been fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 disease, after having received their second dose.
This disclosure was made by the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, during the inauguration of mass vaccination exercise in Lafia, Nasarawa State on Friday.
According to NAN, Shuaib said that as at Friday, November 26, a total of 6,242, 224 eligible persons in the country had received their first doses of the vaccine.
What the Executive Director of NPHCDA is saying
Shuaib in his statement said, “From the data above, it is clear that Nigeria is still far from reaching its target of vaccinating almost 112 million of its eligible population.’’
The NPHCDA boss said the federal government had to introduce the mass vaccination campaign due to the upcoming festive period which is characterized by large gatherings with risk of spread of the virus.
He said the campaign was geared towards creating access to the vaccines in order to eliminate the potential of a fourth wave of the pandemic.
He added, “The main aim of the mass vaccination campaign is to vaccinate 50 per cent of Nigeria’s eligible population by January 2022.
“As it stands, we have only been able to vaccinate 8.1 per cent of eligible Nasarawa residents with the first dose and only 5.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.
“This is below our target which is to vaccinate all eligible residents with the COVID-19 vaccines in order to ensure full protection against the deadly virus.
“In order to address the logistical problems of getting to vaccination site by Nigerians, the Federal Government in collaboration with the State Government has expanded the vaccination sites in Nasarawa State.
“The COVID-19 vaccines are now available in our public health facilities, designated private health facilities, shopping malls, open markets, schools, general hospitals, tertiary health institutions, recreation parks, religious centres, motor parks and other designated sites.’’
Shuaib encouraged Nasarawa residents, who are 18 years and above to come out en masse to receive the vaccines in order to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities.
What you should know
Recall that a few days ago, the Federal Government through the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on Covid-19, flagged off the National Covid-19 mass vaccination Campaign, aimed at ramping up coverage to at least 50% of the eligible target population by 31st January 2022.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Chairman, PSC on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha, said that the campaign is a continuation of the Strategic Vaccine Roll-Out plan in line with its national response.
Mustapha added that the mass vaccination campaign initiative arrangements have been made to ease all known bottlenecks to access, because the NPHCDA had expanded vaccination sites to include public health facilities, private health facilities, mobile vaccination posts and mass vaccination sites such as-: Schools, Markets, shopping malls, Recreation centers, Motor parks, worship houses, and other public places that attract high human traffic.”
