•Only Nasarawa, Jigawa, Kano have reached 50%
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
The Federal Government has expressed serious concern over the country’s failure to achieved targets set for COVID-19 vaccination.
It said that as at yesterday only three states – Nasarawa, Jigawa and Kano, had performed optimally with regards to the attainment of vaccination coverage of 50 per cent.
According to the government as at Monday, not less than 40 million eligible Nigerians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while only 27.7 million have been fully vaccinated, which represents 25 per cent of the total proportion of persons vaccinated.
This falls short of the 70 per cent vaccination target set by the end of the year.
The World Health Organization also expressed concern over the vaccination rate in Africa and Nigeria, stating that although Nigeria’s vaccination rate is commendable, more still needs to be done because if Nigeria can’t do it, then Africa can’t.
The Speaking during the official flag-off of the SCALES 3.0 Strategy by the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), in Abuja, to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination, routine immunization and other primary health care services, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said: “Total performance still falls short of our desire, because as of August 3rd 2022, only about 25 per cent of the eligible population have been fully vaccinated, with only three states – Nasarawa, Jigawa and Kano having a vaccination coverage of over 50 per cent.
“We are left with 34 States including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) performing not quite optimally in vaccination coverage. Hence, the need for the team to refine the current 2.0 S.C.A.L.E.S strategy to accelerate the vaccination by identifying the enablers that are unique to each state, and developing them and also deploying them as States specific strategies that will help us to ramp up coverage.”
In his remark, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha regretted that the proportion of fully vaccinated Nigerians is still low when compared to the set target.
“The present record of only 24.4 percent of the total eligible population of fully vaccinated as at August 3 2022 leaves much to be desired,” he said.
Speaking with journalists, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said: “What we are rolling out today is the SCALES 3.0, which is an improvement over the SCALES 2.0 COVID-19 vaccination rollout. We reviewed the performance of the States and looked at the bottlenecks, and then decided that there were specific fixes to the strategies that were required.
“We are looking at how we can now move closer to the people by looking not only from the health facilities, but making sure that we are able to go settlement-by-settlement, and then in some instances, go door-by-door.
“This will ensure that the vaccines are now brought closer to where people live and work. We are also using the opportunity to provide second doses of booster doses to Nigerians who have already taken the first dose, and for first timers to go and take the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The Country Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Walter Mulombo, said no one can predict when COVID-19 is going to end.
“COVID is showing an uncertain future. No one can tell when it will be over. Africa is lagging behind. We need to boost our effort to protect Africa. If Nigeria cannot do it, no one can do it,” he said
