March target for 50% COVID-19 vaccination unrealistic, says NPHCDA

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), yesterday, declared that the March 2022 target of 50 per cent COVID-19 vaccination might be unrealistic following the poor attitude of Nigerians to the vaccination.

Specifically, it stated that 17 states of the country, including the five states of the South East region, had continued to disregard the COVID-19 vaccination, stressing that daily figures from the states were poor.

Reacting to the development, Director of Disease and Immunisation Control at NAHCDA, Dr. Bassey Okposen, said: “We should not take chances as a nation. If we are protected, the transmission of the virus will stop and until we realise the need for vaccination, I see danger ahead. People say freely that there is no COVID-19, and sometimes we get worried because when the pandemic started in India, they were not accepting the vaccine.

“They were saying there is no COVID-19 until Delta variant struck, they lost over 200,000 persons and recorded over two million cases daily. It is the same COVID-19 vaccine that they took to control the virus.”

Speaking at the South East Primary Health Care and COVID-19 vaccination review meeting in Enugu, Okposen stated that the South East states had continued to maintain poor record compared to other states of the country in vaccination, stressing that the output from the region was a threat to Federal Government’s 50 per cent target.

Giving details, he explained that in Abia State, only 1,438 persons were being vaccinated daily compared to the alleged 17,208 per day, which showed that the state is far behind in vaccine expectations.

“In Anambra, the figure is about 1,152 daily, but going by the vaccination target, the state is supposed to vaccinate 25, 848 per day, which is also far from the target.

“For Ebonyi State, the data shows that the state vaccinates about 608 daily compared to 12,486 per day, while Enugu vaccinates 1,661 per day, which is far below the 18,989 target, just as Imo State currently vaccinates 888 daily as against 23,263 per day,” he stated.

Okposen said going by the numbers from the councils in the region, “it would seem that they are doing the same thing. Efforts should be made to know what is going on at the councils in the region.”

Speaking, Chief Executive Officer of NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shaibu, stated that the meeting was necessitated to discuss the vaccination gaps and strategise on how to improve and motivate the people get vaccinated.

He said the agency would not rest on its oars and watch the negative information being spread about the vaccine, insisting: “The vaccine is safe and has no side effects.”

On his part, representative of Enugu North Senatorial District and Chairman, Senate Committee on Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases, Chukwuka Utazi, who described the figures as sad and unacceptable, appealed to the South East region to embrace the COVID-19 vaccines.