A mass vaccination campaign to cover four million residents in a bid to fight the spread of the COVID-19 has been launched by the Lagos State Government.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that the state plans to achieve the figure million residents in Lagos before the end of 2021.
The programme is also titled “Operation Count Me in 4 Million Lagosians Vaccinated Against COVID-19” and would be overseen by the Lagos State Government in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
WHAT THIS MEANS:
- There is a possibility of the fourth wave of COVID-19, during the holiday season.
- Residents of Lagos, who are 18 years and above will be fully immunised with the COVID-19 vaccine.
- The joint committee set up by the Lagos State Government and NPHCDA would oversee the implementation of the campaign and open vaccination sites in high traffic locations.
- There is potential for a fourth wave of COVID-19, as borders would be opened to all people coming into Lagos in December.
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Governor Sanwo-Olu stated:
”To prevent the catastrophic events we witnessed in the previous waves, the state has developed a robust vaccination drive, leveraging on both the strengths we have in the public and private sectors of our healthcare system.
”In development of our strategy and counter-measures, we prioritise the protection of human lives and keeping our economy open for business.
“To mitigate against this potential damage that will further spread existing variants of COVID-19 in the state, and accelerate efforts towards herd immunity, the need for a different strategy becomes a front-burner issue.
”This is what has culminated in the campaign, tagged ‘Count Me In! 4 million Lagosians Vaccinated Against COVID-19’, to target the full vaccination of 4 million Lagos residents before the end of December 2021.
”Once achieved, this will bring the State closer to reaching our promise to vaccinate 30 per cent of our population within one year.”
He revealed that since March, when Lagos started its vaccination programme, the state has successfully vaccinated 800,000 residents with the first dose of Moderna vaccine and 310,000 persons fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine.
He said that the total number of residents vaccinated with the first dose of either AstraZeneca or Moderna is 1.2 million.
He added that the state has set up COVID-19 vaccination in all its 205 public primary health centres, 14 of the state’s secondary and tertiary hospitals, and is hoping that this partnership can be implemented in over 400 private health centres across seven underserved Local Government Areas in the state.