Government warns of Circulating Vaccine-derived Poliovirus Type 2 in 13 states, FCT

• COVID-19 stimulus package has been helpful, says Osinbajo
• ‘$51b committed to fight pandemic in Nigeria, others’

Barely one year after Nigeria was certified Wild Polio Virus (WPV) free, the government has alerted on the outbreak of Circulating Vaccine-derived Poliovirus Type 2 (cVDPV2) in 13 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It therefore stressed the need for the country to jealously guard its WPV-free status and stop the cVDPV2 transmission in communities. It also announced the formal closure of the Phase 1 COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, who stated this at the second quarter meeting of the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Healthcare Delivery (NTLC), yesterday, in Abuja, disclosed that there are cVDPV2 outbreaks in FCT, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara Abia, Bayelsa, Borno and Delta States, noting that the agency has conducted four Outbreak Response strategies (OBRs) using the Novelle Oral Polio Vaccine which is a preferred choice as it doesn’t seed the virus.

This came as the Presidency revealed that despite the government’s COVID-19 stimulus package, the Nigerian economy did not degenerate as feared.

This was disclosed during a virtual meeting of the Economic Sustainability Committee presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday.

He said: “Our budget funds were released in total. I thank the Honorable Minister of Finance for ensuring that it was done promptly, which means, in effect, that as far as the budget goes, we have been able to do what we practically promised to do.

“I know that if we were able to infuse N2.3 trillion into the Nigerian economy, we will not have the employment figures that we have today. We will not have the problems that we have today. They will be significantly reduced. Even with what we are able to do with the budget, growth figures at least indicate that things have not degenerated as badly as many had thought.”

Nigeria and other African countries meanwhile are said to have committed about $51.05 billion to shore up COVID-19 response.

Chief Executive Officer for BudgIt, Gabriel Okeowo, disclosed this at the launch of a COVID Africa Tracking Website, yesterday, in Abuja.

The website, which is a brainchild of social accountability initiatives, Follow The Money, BudgIT, Global Integrity and part of the COVID-19 Transparency & Accountability Project (CTAP), was designed to provide African citizens with access to evidence on COVID resources.

Okeowo said: “In tracking government’s level of responsiveness, we have shown, through data on the CTAP website, overarching issues such as discrepancies in palliatives and cash transfer distributions, substandard healthcare compounded by the pandemic, disintegration of COVID data, vague procurement processes and blatant corruption by government officials.”