Edo ramps up vaccination, to immunise 3,600 persons in seven days

To begin second dose of jabs in June
The Edo State Government has intensified its COVID-19 pandemic vaccination campaign, with a target to inoculate over 3,600 more persons in 18 councils of the state within the next seven days.

Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Health, Dr. Osamwonyi Irowa, who disclosed this in Benin City, said the government was committed to ensuring that as many people as possible get vaccinated against the COVID-19 scourge.

Irowa noted that over 36,000 eligible persons, including health workers, strategic leaders and other frontline staff, have so far been vaccinated in the first phase of the exercise, adding that the second dose vaccination for the first phase will commence in June.

“About 36,235 persons have so far been vaccinated across the state with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, amounting to 89.1 per cent of our set target already vaccinated.

“These include healthcare workers, other frontline workers and strategic leaders and we intend to vaccinate an additional 3,600 persons over the next seven days as we work tirelessly to safeguard Edo people and reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 within the state.

“We also want to strongly appeal to the good people of Edo State to avail themselves of this additional window of opportunity, bearing in mind the global shortage of vaccines. Also, we assure our people that 45,340 doses of vaccine are already available in safe keep for the second dose of vaccination exercise scheduled to commence from the first week of June 2021.”

Stressing the need to ensure compliance with preventive protocols against the spread of COVID-19, Irowa noted: “We have noticed consistent decline over the past one month in the level of compliance of our citizens to the correct and proper use of face masks, hand washing practices and strict observance of physical distancing measures this poses a risk for the spread of coronavirus.

“We urge everyone to complement the government’s efforts at containing the pandemic and preventing a third wave of the virus by taking responsibility and adhering to guidelines to curtail the spread of the virus across all our communities.”