As Exercise Trickles Down To Grassroots
Traditional, Religious Rulers Mobilise Kebbi Residents
IN Kebbi State, to facilitate the inoculation of residents, the COVID- 19 Task Force Committee has engaged traditional rulers, religious leaders, the media and other stakeholders to educate the people on the importance of being vaccinated.
Deputy Governor of the state and Coordinator of the Committee, Col. Ismail Yombe Dabai
( rtd), who disclosed this while speaking with
The Guardian, explained that the involvement of traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders was meant to support the efforts of the committee towards ensuring that residents in the state get vaccinated.
He stated that the state took delivery of the vaccine last week, adding that the committee was working hard to come up with a procedure that would ensure that all residents would be inoculated.
“We are working hard to ensure that the people are vaccinated. We have to start it from the health workers, followed by the traditional rulers and religious leaders before we vaccinate others,” he added.
The Deputy Governor promised that the vaccine would reach the 21 local councils of the state.
He urged the people not to panic, saying the vaccine was meant to prevent them from contracting the disease.
Mixed Reactions Trail Exercise In Plateau
ON Monday, March 15, 2020, the Plateau State government officially flagged off the COVID19 vaccination programme having received 105,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. Governor Simon Lalong was the first to take the anti- COVID- 19, which was given to him by his personal physician, after which his wife, Regina, was also vaccinated.
Speaking after taking his jab, Lalong encouraged residents to embrace the exercise, saying there was nothing to fear about the vaccine.
“I am the first to take the vaccine in Plateau
State not only because I am the governor but also because of the need to show example and reassure the citizens that there is nothing to fear about the vaccine,” he said.
He noted that although no one was under compulsion to take the vaccine, it was criminal for those not willing to take it to discourage others desiring it.
“As a government, we have to work hard on the issue of sensitisation and awareness among our people to ensure that the rumours and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories do not gain ground. COVID- 19 remains a real threat to many people not only in our state but also around the country and the world at large. This is time for proactive measures rather than complacency and fear,” he added.
The governor said the state received 105,600 doses of the vaccine, adding that preparations had begun for the distribution and administration of the vaccines across the 17 local councils. Many residents in the state, who spoke with The Guardian, said they were ready to take the vaccine, having seen that the President, Vice President and their state governor have received it publicly. However, some residents said they would not take the vaccine because of its reported side effects.
Ojo Emmanuel, a radio mechanic in Jos, said: “Government will not give us anything that will be harmful to us. Since these people have received theirs and nothing adverse has happened to them, I am ready to receive it anytime they come to me.”
But a security man at a private school in Jos, Moses Audu, said: “In as much as I am not dissuading people from taking the dose, I will not rush to take it. I will study people who have taken it for a long time and if there is no adverse effect on them, I will take. You know, I am above 50 years. I will watch carefully and put my ears to the ground.”
Hannatu Pedro, a trader, also said she had fears about the vaccine and had decided not to take it.
“Whether those people whom I see taking it have adverse reaction or no reaction at all, I am not going to take it. As I speak now, my husband has made up his to take the vaccine no matter the side effect. According to my husband, government cannot wish its subject bad. He argued that we are paying tax to government every month, hence they will not want to depopulate or reduce the number of people who are paying tax because it would be hazardous to them. But I have decided not to take the vaccine,” Pedro added.
On the state’s ability to store the vaccine, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nimkon Lar, said the state had long addressed the challenge of storage.
Lar said: “The state is one of the first in the country to show its readiness for the vaccine because of the availability of the storage facilities in the many health centres.
“Jos University Teaching Hospital ( JUTH) is there; Plateau Specialist Hospital is there and many other health centres. So, there is no fear at all.”
Imo: Uzodimma Allays Residents’ Fears
I
MO State is one of the states that have an uphill task in sensitising the residents to avail themselves the opportunity of receiving the vaccination against Coronavirus disease ( COVID- 19).
This is because of the perception of many residents that the virus is either not real or is absent in the state. This is why non- pharmaceutical measures of preventing the disease such as wearing facemask, maintaining social distance, applying hand sanitizers and washing of hands frequently have been ignored by majority of the residents. To complicate matters, some residents who accept that the virus exists have become skeptical about being inoculated against it because of the rumoured side effects of the Astrazeneca vaccine, which was procured by the country. However, the governor of the state, Hope Uzodimma, along side his wife, Chioma and other top government functionaries last week received their first doses of the vaccine. At the ceremony held at the premises of the Imo State Primary Health Development Agency ( ISPHCDA) at New Owerri, Uzodimma said: “If there is anyone who doesn’t want to die it is me. I want to give confidence to my people. I want them to see that government means well. I and my wife, Deputy Governor and his wife will take the vaccine right here today.”
The Executive Secretary of ISPHCDA, Rev. Sr. Maria- Joaness Uzoma, commended the governor for providing the agency the necessary tools for the exercise.
Speaking with The Guardian, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, gave the assurance that the state was well prepared to preserve the vaccine and retain its efficacy. He disclosed that solar power storage facilities had been put in place at the 305 political wards in the state, maintaining that the state government was prepared for the exercise. Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Health in conjunction with the officials of the ISPHCDA has begun inoculating registered people at the local council level. Officials of the agency have also commenced sensitisation of residents via radio and television, with the state Coordinator of the World Health Organisation ( WHO), Dr. Sebastine Okwu, complementing their efforts.
A member of staff of one of the higher institutions in the state, who identified herself as Chika, told The Guardian she would not present herself for inoculation, adding that she would not even wear facemask.
She said: “I am not wearing the facemask because it is discomforting. I am also not going to receive the vaccine.”
Another resident, Joe Ubi, said he was not finding it easy to register for the inoculation. According to him, he was unable to access the online registration portal because of network challenges in Owerri West local council.
“They said we should do it online but network is a problem in our area, Okwukwu, Owerri West local council. I will be set when it becomes easily accessible,” he said.
Residents Divided As Kogi Awaits Delivery Of COVID- 19 Vaccine
KOGI State is yet to take delivery of the COVID- 19 vaccine. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control ( NCDC) had declared recently that lack of storage facility was the reason the state had not taken its own share of the vaccine.
Corroborating this position, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Saka Haruna, in a telephone interview, said the state’s cold room was destroyed during the unfortunate # ENDSARS protest in the state last year.
He, however, disclosed that the state government was working towards fixing the facility, saying the state would take delivery of the vaccine and administer it on those that would want to be vaccinated after fixing the facility.
Recall that the state government had come under serious attack recently because of its position on the COVID- 19 pandemic.
While the state government had consistently said that issues around the pandemic were unnecessarily over hyped, the NCDC felt the government was endangering the lives of the people.
Even though the vaccine was not yet available in the state, residents were divided on their willingness to receive it.
Sule Idris told The Guardian that he was not willing to take the vaccine. Asked why, he said: “With the controversy over the issue in the state, how are you sure that they will bring the right vaccine or administer it properly?”
However, several others expressed their willingness to take the vaccine. They noted that since the vaccine would protect them from contracting the virus, it was better to take it.
I Need Palliative Not Vaccine, Says Osun Resident
THE Osun State government has distributed the 64,240,000 doses of
Astrazeneca COVID- 19 vaccine it received from the Federal Government to all the local councils in the state.
The state Immunisation Officer, who is in charge of the vaccine, Mrs. Adebola
Adeosun, said the vaccine was handed over to the local council immunisation officers. She said the distribution was part of the state government’s efforts to put an end to further spread of coronavirus in the state, especially at the grassroots.
Adeosun said the state kept its consignment of the vaccine at its cold store under the required temperature that would make it effective.
While advising the people of the state not to loose their guard against COVID- 19, Adeosun admonished them to discountenance the negative information making the rounds about the vaccine, alerting that any side effect that could be felt after its administration was temporary.
Meanwhile, residents in the state expressed mixed feelings as regards taking the vaccine.
A resident in Osun, Yinka Kolawole, who has received the vaccine, explained that he only experienced temporary body weakness on that day but became very fine the next day. He encouraged members of the public to take the vaccine, adding that it was safe.
“I had the privilege of receiving the first jab of the vaccine recently. I took it because I believe it would prevent me from being infected with COVID- 19 as government has assured us. The day I took it, I only felt slight weakness but the next day, I became normal. I want to encourage other Nigerians to receive it. You will not even know that something was injected into your body,” he said. Kolawole’s advise is not for people like Shina Dada, a resident who has vowed not to receive the vaccine. He anchored his decision on the recent suspension of the
Oxford/ Astrazeneca vaccine by some countries. Moreover, he said he has been strong and healthy since the outbreak of the virus, noting that there was no need for him to take the vaccine, which he noted, has become controversial.