….opens special vaccination sites
By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has set up special COVID-19 vaccination sites across the country.
This was disclosed by its Executive Director, Dr Faisal Shuaib, while addressing newsmen in Abuja.
Shuaib explained that the sites were established to enable that people who have received the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine to take the final dose.
He said the agency considered people who may have relocated from the place where they took the first jab to another.
“For this reason, we have made provision for special vaccination sites that could accommodate administering their second doses,” he said.
Speaking on fears of side effects of the vaccines, he assured that while mild, moderate and severe adverse effects have been recorded since the vaccination campaign was officially rolled out, the reported cases have all recovered.
Shuaib stated: “These side effects include pain and swelling at site of vaccination to more serious symptoms such as headaches, abdominal pain, fever, dizziness and allergic reactions.
“A total of 10,027 cases of mild Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) have been reported as of May 30, while 86 cases of moderate to severe incidents have been reported. All these individuals have since fully recovered.”
He added that states that recorded the highest AEFI are Cross River (1,040), Kaduna (1,071), Lagos (796), Yobe (555), and Kebbi (525) cases.
“On my part, the side effects following the second dose was much less than the first dose,” he stated.
He assured: “We continue to advise that all Nigerians who have received their first dose should check their vaccination cards for the date of their second dose.
”They are to proceed to the same health facility where they got their first jab, to ensure full protection against COVID-19.”
Also speaking, the representative of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria, Dr. Gupta Gagan, commended the NPHCDA and its leadership for the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive.
Gupta urged people who have received the first dose of the vaccine to go and receive their second doses.
“All those who have received the first dose should please go back for their second dose because if you don’t, you should know that you are not fully protected.”
On his part, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, applauded Nigeria for its COVID-19 vaccination strategy.
He disclosed that other African countries are already looking up to Nigeria to learn how to roll out their vaccinations.
“Even though Africa is lagging behind, Nigeria is among the countries that is distributing the most COVID-19 vaccines.
“We know that in terms of volume we are still a long way to go because we have planned to vaccinate more than 100 million of our population.
”However, its already a good learning base on how we can effectively rollout the COVID-19 vaccination,” he added.