Bauchi State Governor, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed alongside his deputy, Senator Baba Tela, state’s first lady, Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed and other government officials on Saturday morning have been vaccinated against COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking shortly after been vaccinated, Governor Bala Mohammed expressed optimism that the vaccine will contribute positively towards controlling the scourge of the deadly virus.
The governor who expressed satisfaction with the participation of ulamas and pastors in the flag off ceremony, enjoined them to sensitize their followers on the need to embrace the exercise.
He described the allocation of 150 thousand doses of the vaccine to the Bauchi state as inadequate and pleaded with the federal government to purchase the required doses of COVID-19 vaccine in order to meet the number of Nigerians.
“I am highly delighted to witness today’s moment which is a climax for the fight against scourge of COVID-19. You know incidentally I was the index case with my brother the Deputy Governor and some of my close associates and today we are here again after the global body developed a vaccine to tackle the scourge of COVID-19.”
“We came here as leaders to be administered with this vaccine to show that the vaccine is safe and I want to tell our people that they should continue wearing of face masks even after receiving the vaccine to ensure total eradication of the virus.”
Governor Bala Mohammed while thanking development partners and International community especially WHO and other stakeholders who donated the vaccine to Nigeria, called for more collaboration and support for controlling of communicable diseases in the country.
“I must thank the Bauchi State Task Force on COVID-19 headed by the Deputy Governor for their commitment to assigned responsibilities and I wish you will not relent in providing solutions to all the challenges associated with the infection of the virus.”
The governor used the opportunity to acknowledge the partnership between his administration and the Bauchi field office of UNICEF which resulted to the renovation of a large number of primary healthcare centres across the state aimed at improving healthcare services.
In a key note adrress, the State Deputy Governor who is the Chairman of COVID-19 Task Force in the state, Senator Baba Tela said the vaccine will be available in all the twenty local government areas of the state for people to access it.
“Your Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi state, on behalf of the COVID-19 Task Force we thank you for giving us the opportunity to participate in this committee of controlling the spread of not only COVID-19, but other communicable diseases.”
Earlier, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Aliyu Maigoro said already health workers selected to participate in the exercise have been trained for effective service delivery.
