The Federal Government on Saturday hinted that getting COVID-19 vaccination could become a requirement for all international passengers as the fight against the killer infection gathers steam.
The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, said some countries have already started introducing restrictions for receiving visitors.
He spoke in Abuja at an event where President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received their first doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Buhari himself charged all eligible Nigerians to receive the vaccine.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, debunked media reports that the Federal Government had earmarked N10.6 billion for the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said that soon, no one would be able to travel without being vaccinated.
“I think vaccine hesitancy would have to give way to the reality,” he said.
He added: “Because the truth about it, Your Excellency, is that very soon, nobody will be able to travel the world unless you produce the certificate that we have been given.
“I have not confirmed but reliably, some countries have started putting restrictions on receiving visitors, even exercising activities of their faith without a COVID-19 vaccination.
“So the word that is going out there, on behalf of Mr. President, is that Nigerians should make themselves available, those that are eligible in the first set of the deployment, because the deployment is going to be in four phases, to receive these vaccines.
“They have been tested. Our most strategic leadership has received them this morning. They are safe, efficacious and it is for the good and well being of our people.”
Read Also: Osinbajo: vaccination wasn’t painful, I didn’t feel a pinch
Buhari described his decision to take the vaccine in public as “a demonstration of leadership and faith in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.”
“I have received my first jab and I wish to commend it to all eligible Nigerians to do same so that we can be protected from the virus,” he said.
He urged all state governments, traditional and religious leaders, to take the lead in the mobilization effort within their environment and spheres of influence.
He said: “The vaccine offers hope for a safe country, free of Coronavirus.
“I similarly urge all eligible Nigerians to present themselves and be vaccinated in accordance with the order of priority already mapped out, at the various authorised designated centres only.”
He congratulated the PTF on COVID-19 on the successful multi-sectoral approach to the management of the pandemic, and also commended state governments, donors, development partners, the private sector, traditional and religious leaders as well as critical stakeholders who have supported Nigeria’s response to the pandemic.
He pledged that all the resources will be equitably administered.
The President noted that since the beginning of the year 2020, humanity had remained under the burden of COVID-19 pandemic, an unseen but very potent enemy around the world.
“Infection from the virus has resulted in over two million and five hundred thousand fatalities and destroyed several global and national systems.
“The response in Nigeria and the ECOWAS sub-region has been robust, collaborative and united. It was driven by a collective knowledge of the fact that ‘no country is safe until every country is safe.
“The speedy development of the COVID-19 vaccines is quite significant and underscores the collective resolve of humanity to overcome the pandemic.
“Similarly, the collaborative effort to ensure equal access has brought relief to poor and developing countries,” he said.
President Buhari spoke of the assurance by the PTF that the AstraZeneca vaccine, which Nigeria has accessed, would arrive in batches beginning with the four million doses already received.
The President said the roll out and administration plan would cater for over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population in 2021 and 2022.
Also speaking, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said the show of leadership by the President and the Vice President would boost the morale of the health sector and reassure the public about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
He said five main pillars have been laid out for this COVID-19.
“First is to continue to scale up that dynastic and case finding, infection prevention and control to reduce infections that arise in our country.
“Secondly, to continue to improve the therapeutics and the case management, they have graciously agreed to ensure oxygen plants, at least 88 of them in the country, because we have discovered that high flow oxygen supplementation is key to the treatment of COVID-19 severe cases.
“We have also made the point to continue to sustain, essentially the routine medical services. So we do not lose sight of this area and begin to see more fatalities coming even from non-COVID cases, due to fear of COVID or too much focus on COVID. We tend to continue to press on our routine medical services.
“The fourth is the introduction of the emergency medical service an ambulance system in your country, which we believe will reduce maternal mortality under-five mortality, accident mortality and all the mortality we see in on expected events and that the country’s health system will be able to respond promptly to citizens, when they are in distress, they know who to call upon.
“The fifth and the final is the introduction of COVID vaccines. It has taken about a year of record scientific work to come about these vaccines in many countries.
“This vaccine is safe and has been administered to millions of persons and it is also well sought after. Just a day or two ago, we had reports of a diplomatic squabble between Italy and Australia over AstraZeneca vaccines and where they should go too fast.
“There is still vaccine nationalism. There is still hoarding going on. And we do hope that with your support, Your Excellency, we are continuing to get the flow of vaccines to continue that decentralisation process,” he said.
The exercise was preceded by e-registration of both the President and Vice President, and filling out of their vaccination cards by the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib.
The President and his deputy received the first shots of the vaccine at the New Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja in the presence of members of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, senior government officials and journalists.
The Personal Physician to the President, Dr Sanusi Raafindadi, administered the vaccine on him, while that of the Vice President was also done by his personal physician, Dr Nicholas Audifferen.
The President and the Vice President got their jabs a day after the COVID-19 national vaccine programme commenced with the vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers at the National Hospital, Abuja.
The event was witnessed by Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed; Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari; Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu and the Director General of National Agency for Food Drugs and Administration Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye.
N10.6bn COVID-19 vaccine logistics cost claim is fake news — FG
Also on Saturday, the Federal Government debunked a media report that not less than N10.6 billion was earmarked for the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
The media report had cited a document purportedly put together by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and presented to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which set the budget for the logistics distribution of vaccines to the states and council areas at N10.6 billion.
However, the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, described the quoted figure as incredulous, saying the responsibility of distribution of vaccines across the country had been taken over by the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).
According to him, CACOVID had offered to take up the responsibility of the logistics distribution by providing an aircraft to move vaccines from Abuja to states with airports, as well as vans for further dispatch from airports to areas without airports.
He said: “It doesn’t make any sense that on the one hand, we’ve communicated very clearly to Nigerians that the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), a private sector initiative, has provided a cargo plane that will help deliver the vaccines from Abuja to all states that have functional airports.
“For those that do not have functional airports, there is a delivery van that will convey the vaccines from those airports to the states without functionality.
“I do not see how that is going to cost N10 billion. So there is no truth in that information.
“The truth is what I have told you, which is that CACOVID has taken up the responsibility of delivering the vaccines from Abuja to the states.
“The only cost we’re going to incur is the cost of delivering the vaccines from any airport to nearby states that don’t have functional airports. Clearly that cannot be N10.6 billion.”
Asked what the actual cost would be, he said: “You can do the math on the back of an envelope, and you know that it cannot be anything close to a billion naira right?.
“So I believe that CACOVID has already identified that cost as something they are going to take off. I do not know how much it’s going to cost them, but that is something that they have already identified as a cost they will bear, and we are working together with them.
“So it is not correct to say that the Federal Government is going to be expending N10.6 billion to transport vaccines to the state. That is incredulous.”
On the latest development on the 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines, the NPHCDA boss said: “So what happened was that there was a committee that met at global level and took the decision that it makes more sense for Nigeria to get 16 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines rather than 100,000 doses of Pfizer.
“Hundred thousand doses of Pfizer is a drop in the ocean, and given that the AstraZeneca vaccine is more suited to our cold chain environments; from +2 to +8 °C.
“Not only do we have the necessary cold chain equipment, but also our health workers have the capacity to manage vaccines of that temperature. So it just makes sense that we should get vaccines that are more suited to Nigeria.”
Nigeria has 158,042 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,954 deaths.
It aims to vaccinate 40% of its people this year, and another 30% in 2022.
It took delivery of 3.92 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday through COVAX and expects 84 million doses via the scheme for poor and middle-income countries this year.
The scheme is co-led by Gavi, the vaccine alliance, and the World Health Organisation, with UNICEF an implementing partner.
(The Nation)
