Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, says the state runs the risk of experiencing a fourth wave of the COVID pandemic.
He said this on Wednesday while flagging off a COVID mass vaccination programme in the state.
The programme aims to vaccinate four million residents before the end of 2021.
Sanwo-Olu flagged off the campaign, tagged ‘Count Me In! 4 Million Vaccinated Against COVID-19’, on Wednesday at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Lagos COVID vaccination campaign, which is in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), will cover residents who are 18 years and above.
Speaking during the event, Sanwo-Olu said the mass vaccination campaign is necessary to prevent the “catastrophic” events witnessed in the previous waves, considering that the state’s borders would be opened to all during the festive season. He disclosed that to expand the access to COVID vaccines, mobile vans would be deployed to reach individuals in underserved communities.
“We have set up COVID-19 vaccination in all our 205 public primary health centres, 14 of the state’s second and tertiary hospitals,” he added.
“And we are hoping that this partnership can be implemented in over 400 private health centres across seven underserved local government areas in the state.
“Let me re-emphasise that we are not compelling anyone to get vaccinated. But we want everyone to take it as personal responsibility, which is highly important.
“What we seek to achieve by this campaign is to ensure there is access to the vaccines and availability. Then, give people an opportunity to get vaccinated at centres close to them. This will give nobody a reason not to get the vaccines.”
