280 residents receive COVID-19 vaccines in Ekiti

No fewer than 280 persons have received jabs of COVID-19 vaccines in Ekiti State with none of them showing any negative effect, the state government has said.

The government also revealed that a total of 50,000 persons will be vaccinated in the first phase of the exercise, with frontline medical and public officers benefiting first before moving to the local level.

The Senior Special Assistant on Public Health to the Governor, Dr Jimlas Ogunsakin, while speaking with newsmen, on Thursday, in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital noted that part of the vaccines have been deployed to the health care facilities in the local government area for the people at the grassroots.

He said: “AstraZeneca vaccine has arrived Nigeria and 4 million doses were brought in out of which Ekiti got 100,000 doses to vaccinate 50,000 people because each person will take two doses within 10 to 12 weeks interval.

“Top government functionaries have been vaccinated, including Governor Kayode Fayemi. In totality, 280 persons have been vaccinated and with none manifesting adverse effect to the immunisation.

“Every drug has a side effect, but nobody has reported any strange signs except those with a little bit of high temperature and little pain which subsided easily. But we have planned for any likely adverse reaction and we have trained our medical staff on how best to respond to this.

“The government knew that the doses bought can’t take care of 3 million Ekiti population. But this is the first phase. Ekiti was one of the first 11 states to take the vaccine due to the good leadership provided by Governor Fayemi.

“Before the arrival of the vaccine, Ekiti had established a molecular laboratory and solar storage equipment, which were part of the requirements to get the vaccine by states.”

Ogunsakin said the state government was putting in place measures to ensure the commencement of the vaccination in the grassroots on March 22.

Ogunsakin added that the Fayemi’s administration has renovated and equipped several primary and secondary healthcare facilities, trained and employed medical personnel and implement the State Health Insurance Scheme to achieve universal coverage.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

COVID-19: Nigeria Close To ‘Flattening The Curve’ ― Analysis

Nigeria may be close to flattening the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic as confirmed cases in the country keep dropping weekly, Tribune Online analysis has shown. This is even as the much-expected COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory last Tuesday…280 residents receive COVID-19 vaccines in Ekiti

280 residents receive COVID-19 vaccines in Ekiti