April 22, 2021

Lagos has announced that a total of 257,756 eligible people have received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Lagos State.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Health in the state, Professor Akin Abayomi, stated that the figure was recorded as of April 15.

He listed those vaccinated to include health workers, as well as frontline workers such as security officials, ports of entry staff, judiciary, petrol station workers, contingency workers, and strategic leaders.

Abayomi stated that the government went a step further to vaccinate willing pensioners, people aged 70 and above, teachers, and journalists during the same period.

Following the development, he said the government has concluded the first half of phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, in line with the directive of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).

Noting that the exercise began on March 12, the commissioner explained that the first phase, which took an average of 20 days, followed the Federal Government’s directive to stop vaccination once half of the consignment had been administered to ensure the second doses were administered.

“This will ensure that at least one per cent of Lagos residents receive the full complement of doses required to enable the protection the vaccine promises. The target to achieve effective herd immunity is vaccination of at least 60 per cent of the Lagos State population.

“The exercise lapsed on Tuesday, April 13. Consequently, the government has shut down all its vaccination centres,” he said.

Lagos had received 507,000 doses of the 3.92 million doses of the vaccine facilitated through support from the COVAX facility to the Nigerian Government.

While 257,756 doses had been administered, the government hinted that the remaining doses have been reserved at the Lagos State Cold Chain Store for the second dose exercise scheduled to commence on May 28, following the expiration of the eight to 12 weeks interval as required by the manufacturers.

“Residents are encouraged to check their vaccination cards for their next appointment dates and where possible to try to go to the same health facilities where they got their initial dose for their second dose.

“There is no need for citizens who have received the first dose to pre-register before going to the health facility for the second dose because their already captured details will only be updated with additional information after vaccination,” Abayomi said.

He added, “The vaccines are due to expire on July 9, 2021. Our monitoring and evaluation quality assurance activity indicates that our cold chain distribution logistics has been maintained ensuring the integrity of the vaccines.

“As previously stipulated and according to the strategy of the Federal Government through the NPHCDA, the COVID-19 vaccinations will be in four phases.”

Phase two, according to the commissioner, will cover persons aged 50 years and above as well as those living with co-morbidities who are between 18-49 years of age, while phase three will be activated thereafter for people in the Local Government Areas with the highest infections of the disease and those who missed phases one and two.

He explained that phase four would cover other eligible populations as more vaccines become available.