Obaseki To Take First Dose Of COVID Vaccine In Edo

Iexclusive News Nigeria reports that Gov Godwin Obaseki Friday said he will take the lead as the first person in the state to be vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) in order to boost the citizens’ confidence to be inoculated against the disease.

Obaseki gave the assurance shortly after inspecting the state medical store facilities in Benin City, the state capital.

Obaseki noted, “I will take mine. If I take mine and I am okay, that will give confidence to Edo people.

“The preventive protocols will still be in place; don’t forget that it will take a while to vaccinate almost 80 percent of the population, which is expected to be vaccinated.

“The fact that you have taken the vaccine does not mean you should be careless, not wear a mask or not protect yourself because many more people may have not received their own vaccination.”

“We will continue to insist and advocate that our people conduct themselves and comply with directives to prevent COVID-19 from spreading”

Obaseki continued: “You will recall that these facilities were vandalized during the #EndSARS protest; so I wanted to make sure that the cold store that will receive the vaccine is in order.

“I am here to personally undertake the inspection of the facilities.

“As you can see, I just gave an instruction that a second generator set should be delivered to Edo State this weekend, as a backup to supply from the distribution company.”

Nigeria, on Friday, commenced the mass vaccination of her citizens against the COVID-19, beginning with the nation’s healthcare workers.

This is as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, warned Nigerians not to patronize fraudsters who are out to defraud, get rich and in the end, endanger Nigerians’ lives.

The healthcare workers are often at risk of exposure to infections, including COVID-19, as they are the first responders to patients.

A medical doctor, Dr Cyprian Ngong, of the National Hospital, Abuja, received a jab of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine administers on him by the Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib.

Mustapha flagged off the exercise on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari at the National Hospital, Abuja.

Besides Dr Ngong, a nurse, Mrs Faith E. Eragbai; and two other medical doctors, Dr Nuru Joseph and Dr Tahir Yunusa, were also given doses of the vaccines.

About four million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were delivered to Nigeria through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX) on Tuesday after its arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja.

The delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccines is part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to Nigeria in batches over the next weeks.