President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will on Saturday receive the COVID-19 vaccine publicly, as part of steps to convince Nigerians that the vaccine is safe.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the second edition of the State House weekly briefing on Thursday.
The second edition reviewed Nigeria’s Response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the last one year, and especially the National Vaccination Response.
“The next step in the vaccination programme given that we’ve now received the vaccines is a launch that will be taking place at the National Hospital tomorrow (Friday). The time scheduled for that launch is 10am. The launch will be conducted by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, (Boss Mustapha),” Shuaib said.
“The plan is to vaccinate the frontline health workers that work in the treatment centre of the National Hospital, those will be the first people just like we’ve communicated that frontline health workers will be the first people to take the vaccines.
“After that, the plan is to vaccinate Mr President, Mr Vice-President and strategic leaders on Saturday. Again, we are hopeful that when Nigerians see leaders like Mr President and Mr Vice-President take the vaccines; it will increase their confidence around the safety of the vaccines.
“As you are well aware that even before the vaccines arrived Nigeria, there is a lot of hesitancy. It is a global phenomenon. Vaccine hesitancy is similar no matter where you are, you have to provide the right information and to those people who have questions, we cannot dismiss their cynicism.
“It is our responsibility as public health workers not to only offer the vaccines but do the extra work in terms of providing the resources that are needed and to convince people that these vaccines are safe.” Shuaib said that Buhari and Osinbajo will receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday 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, SGF, Boss Mustapha will also receive his first dose of the vaccine on Saturday, Shuaib added.
Dr Chikwe Iheakwaz, Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said 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, alerted the nationthat falsified COVID-19 vaccines are already in the global market.
“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,” Adefeye said.
On his part, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said that Nigeria had been lucky so far but warned that, “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,” the minister said.
