Group seeks women inclusion in COVID-19 vaccination, others

Women’s Right and Health Project (WRAHP) has called for women inclusiveness in the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Nigeria.

The Executive Director, WRAHP, Bose Ironsi, who made the call to commemorate the International Women’s Day, said government should include women in the equitable COVID-19 vaccine programme in Nigeria, as research has shown that women were more affected during the lockdown.

“Research shows that women were most affected by the socio and economic effects of the pandemic, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown when there was a recorded increase in the incidence and rate of occurrence,” Ironsi said.

Women need more of this vaccine because they are the care givers, she added, they should not neglect them because they feel the pain.
She argued it was a wrong approach to talk about solving a problem that involved women when they were not part of the solution-makers. Women must be part of the economic solution by making sure they are also in the leadership roles to address the issue around COVID-19, she recommended.

“More women should be engaged,” she added, “and let the government dialogue with more women to find out the modalities for people to get this vaccine.”

The government must also identify those gaps that came during the COVID-19 and address them, and if women and their sources of livelihood were seriously affected and now the vaccines are here, women should be considered.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World,’ Ironsi said increasing women’s access to leadership roles is a key contributor to a more equal COVID-19 world.