….announced date to begin administering 2nd dose of vaccination
Lagos State Government says a total of 257,756 eligible people have received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the State.
To this end all vaccination centres in the state have been closed .
In a statement on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Health in the state, Professor Akin Abayomi, said closure of the centres was due to the conclusion of the first phase of vaccination in line with the directive of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).
He listed those vaccinated to include health workers, as well as frontline workers such as security officials, ports of entry staff, judiciary, petrol station workers, contingency workers, and strategic leaders.
Abayomi stated that the government went a step further to vaccinate willing pensioners, people aged 70 and above, teachers, and journalists during the same period.
Noting that the exercise began on March 12, the commissioner explained that the first phase, which took an average of 20 days, followed the Federal Government’s directive to stop vaccination once half of the consignment had been administered to ensure the second doses were administered.
“This will ensure that at least one per cent of Lagos residents receive the full complement of doses required to enable the protection the vaccine promises. The target to achieve effective herd immunity is vaccination of at least 60 per cent of the Lagos State population.
“The exercise lapsed on Tuesday, April 13. Consequently, the government has shut down all its vaccination centres,” he said.
Lagos State got 507,000 doses of the 3.92 Million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine facilitated through support from the COVAX facility to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he said.
While 257,756 doses had been administered, Abayomi said the remaining doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine had been reserved at the Lagos State Cold Chain Store for the second dose exercise, which would commence on the 28th of May, 2021, following the expiration of the 8-12 weeks interval as required by the manufacturers.
He stated that residents were encouraged to check their vaccination cards for their next appointment dates and where possible to try to go to the same health facilities where they got their initial dose for their second dose.
“There is no need for citizens who have received the first dose to pre-register before going to the health facility for the second dose because their already captured details will only be updated with additional information after vaccination,” he added.
