NPHCDA declared the March target for 50% COVID-19 vaccination unrealistic

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) said Wednesday that the March 2022 aim of 50% COVID-19 vaccination may be unattainable due to Nigerians’ aversion to the vaccine.

It said specifically that 17 states in the country, including five in the South East, had continued to ignore the COVID-19 immunization, emphasizing that daily numbers from the states were bad.

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“We should not take chances as a nation,” Dr. Bassey Okposen, Director of Disease and Immunization Control at NAHCDA, said in response to the development. If we are protected, the virus will cease spreading, and I believe we are in danger until we recognize the necessity for vaccine. People routinely assert that COVID-19 and sometimes we get worried because when the pandemic started in India, they were not accepting the vaccine.

“They claimed there was no COVID-19 until the Delta variant hit, when they lost over 200,000 people and recorded over two million cases per day.” It’s the same COVID-19 vaccine they used to keep the virus at bay.”

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

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He went on to say that only 1,438 people were vaccinated daily in Abia State, compared to an alleged 17,208 per day, indicating that the state is well behind in vaccine expectations.

“In the state of 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.

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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.