The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Mr Faisal Shuaib said Thursday that the agency hopes to see President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation Mr Boss Mustapha and other prominent Nigerians taking the first set of COVID-19 vaccine on live television.
Speaking at a briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19 in Abuja, Shuaib said administering the vaccines on top government officials would help drive awareness in the country.
He appealed to Nigerians not to be hesitant on receiving the vaccine when they arrive.
“I had mentioned that we will like to see a situation where Mr. President, the Vice President, the SGF, critical leaders come and take the vaccine in full glare of the public to demonstrate that this vaccines is safe. So, we have to make provisions for those.
“But even in developed countries, what we have seen is that apart from the prioritization health workers, you have to also identify critical leaders that you don’t want them to be wipe off by the virus. For example, in warfare, if you want to destroy your enemies, you look for specific leaders, captains, the generals, once you decapitate them, then the soldiers will become weak.
“So, as much as possible you do not want to also leave your leaders vulnerable to COVID-19, it doesn’t , it doesn’t mean you want to prioritise politicians, that is not correct. I emphasized during the last briefing that we will prioritize our health workers because they are the ones in direct contacts with cases in isolation units.”
On the necessity of the vaccines, he said: “There is no shadows of doubt even from the different vaccines that we have used in the past, that it is always better to use the vaccines. For COVID-19 it will take approximately 10 years for you to be able to achieve health immunity. So you can imagine how many people would have died if you have to rely on health immunity.
“The Swiss tried health immunity and I’m sure of you go through the information that is available, for a lot of people health immunity just doesn’t work. The Americans touted it and see what is happening in the US. Health immunity is not the way to go. The evidence is there that when you use vaccines you are more likely to quickly to attend health immunity, protect more people.
“So, I will like to reiterate that you must not give way to conspiracy theories. We must try to manage the information around the vaccines, where people do not understand please reach out to us those who are scientists, Publix health experts. All of us here are Nigerians who take the issue of the safety of Nigerians seriously,” he said.
He said Nigeria hopes to get 42 million COVID-19 vaccines to cover one fifth of its population through the global COVAX scheme.
He said the initial vaccines would come as part of Nigeria’s plan to inoculate 40 percent of the population this year and another 30 percent in 2022, with 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arriving by the end of January. The COVAX scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries such as Nigeria, whose 200 million people and poor infrastructure pose a daunting challenge to medical officials rolling out the vaccinations.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Health, Mr Olorunnimbe Mamora, has warned Nigerians against complacency in containing the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need to be alive to get the vaccines when they come. I have brought this up to underscore the importance of compliance with non-pharmaceutical measures as advised to reduce transmissibility of the virus,” she said.
She added that as of Wednesday new cases recorded were 1,354 with one death recorded; while total number of cases tested is 1,004,915.
“Number of confirmed cases is 94,369. Active cases stand at 15,764. Discharged cases till date are 77,299. Number of deaths till date is 1,324 with case fatality rate of 1.4 percent.
“The Federal Government is determined to ensure morbidity due to COVID-19 is reduced to the barest minimum while improving on the fatality rate. Appropriate measures are being taken to achieve these objectives,” he said.
