The ‘Operation Count Me in 4 Million Lagosians Vaccinated against COVID-19’ began at the weekend with the roll out of vaccination at the Abule Nla Primary Health Centre, Ebute-Metta, Lagos Mainland Local Government Area.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu last week launched the campaign to ensure four million residents are vaccinated before the yuletide as part of strategies to ward off a fourth wave of the pandemic. Residents are to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines.
Chairman of the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board (LSPHCB) Prof. Akin Oshibogun dispelled rumours about the vaccine, describing it as “safe, efficacious and effective”.
According to him, follow-ups have been sustained on vaccinated persons in the last four months and the results have proven rumours of blood clot, magnetisation, sudden death, among others, wrong. He explained that the alleged body pains, cold and soreness of vaccination site are natural body reactions to the vaccine.
Oshibogun, therefore, described the roving rumours as “tales by the moonlight”.
He said: “It is very important that we protect ourselves against this virus. We have been fortunate that fatality rate is not as it is in Europe and America, but the virus is still evolving because it’s still mutating. The only way to break a pandemic is to use a vaccine and drug for treatment, but vaccines are likely to be cheaper than drug. Now, we have the vaccine, it’s better for us to take advantage of its availability. We are also collecting data locally to see how safe the vaccines are, and we can prove they are safe.
“We want to spread the message that people need to protect themselves because the virus is still evolving and we don’t know what variants are likely to come up.”
Permanent Secretary of the LSPHCB Dr. Ibrahim Mustafa said the roll out is a strategic step towards mitigating the effects of COVID-19 with enlightenment campaigns. (Nation)