The Executive Director, National Primary Heath Care Development agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, on Thursday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will receive shots of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines on Saturday.
According to Mr Shuaib, the exercise will boost the confidence of Nigerians to receive the vaccines shipped into the country on Tuesday.
“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.
“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 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.
He also added that “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”.
You would recall Ghana and its West African neighbour Ivory Coast became the world’s first states to administer vaccines from Covax, a global scheme to procure free Covid jabs for poorer countries. “It is important that I set the example that this vaccine is safe by being the first to have it, so that everybody in Ghana can feel comfortable about taking this vaccine”, Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, 76, said before receiving a shot of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in a live broadcast.
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