The Federal Government has called on states governments to develop local strategies to counter hesitancy to COVID19 vaccines across the states in the country.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire in his keynote address at the Special National Council on Health Meeting in Abuja said mass vaccination exercise aimed to reach 50% eligible population by January 2022 in underway, but vaccine skepticism is still an issue and States have a role to play to develop local strategies to counter hesitancy.
Ehanire also said vaccines are the surest and most cost-effective measure so far to contain the pandemic, but inequities in global distribution reduced the access of African countries to a fair share.
Ehanire while speaking further said as of November 27, 2021, over 6 million persons had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 3.4 million persons were fully vaccinated with two doses and this is still far from vaccinating 70% of the eligible population for herd immunity.
Ehanire therefore urged the states governments to continue to work strategically with the Federal organs, to address it and other challenges.
According to Ehanire: “I still clearly remember the last regular National Council on Health meeting we held in 2019 in Asaba, Delta State, at which time, the World was totally oblivious of the public health turmoil into which mankind would be plunged, shortly thereafter.
“Since then, much has happened, with a pandemic that has changed our way of life, COVID-19. The restrictions and other measures to control the pandemic meant that a regular NCH meeting would not hold in 2020”.
“However, two emergency NCH sessions were convened, virtually to address urgent matters as was necessary. The NCH is the highest policy-making organ in the health sector, and provides a platform for Council members and stakeholders to consider and chart ways forward on health issues of national importance”.
Ehanire also said the theme for this special NCH; “the Journey towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Applying lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to build a resilient health system” was carefully chosen to reflect the reality of the times and to emphasize the need for a resilient health system, agile and flexible enough to withstand the shocks and challenges of emerging and reemerging disease outbreaks threatening the world or parts of the world.
“COVID-19 is just the latest in the course of human existence, of which the manifestation will not always be predictable. As 2019 yielded to 2020, the world was struck by a strange illness to be identified as caused by a novel Coronavirus named SARS-CoV2, bearing COVID-19 disease”.
“The response required restriction in movement, leading to national and international lockdowns in addition to non-pharmaceutical interventions and public health measures used to control the spread of the virus”.
“Lives were lost, health systems were tested, including such as were deemed strong and resilient. Ours struggled under the pressure, as economies also slowed to a near halt, and scientists raced to study the virus and find cures and antidotes”.
“Some two years down the line, the world has risen to the challenge and established that the virus will likely be with us for some time to come, but morbidity and mortality can be reduced with safe and effective vaccines”.
“Gloomy predictions were made for Africa, including Nigeria, at the onset of the pandemic; however the efforts and strategies we put in place to control it, yielded fruits, as the predictions about Africa and Nigeria did not come to pass”.
“While we celebrate, we must remain alert as new variants of the virus, some more contagious and virulent, power new waves of infections. Just in the last few days, we have heard of the new ‘omicron’ variant, supposedly emerging from southern Africa, which has been labelled a variant of concern, and starting a new round of drastic measures like restrictions of flights and movement likely to hurt economic activities of countries”.
“And so whether it’s a Covid-19 variant or a new attack, we must strengthen our health security architecture to ensure we are prepared at all times to detect, and respond, in the interest of the health of our population”.
“The end term of the SDGs is barely 9 years away and targets of the health-related SGDs, in particular, SDG 3 are still far off”.
“The National Strategic Health Development Plan2 2018-2022, providing the Medium-term health sector roadmap to attain the goals and objectives of the National policy and edge closer to the SDG targets is completing its life cycle”.
“We need to take stock and ensure the succeeding plan addresses emerging needs in a post-pandemic era. While chances of meeting targets may now seem slim in the face of the challenges of the past year, the good news is that our nation can leverage lessons learnt from the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, nationally and globally, to make bold decisions to build a resilient health system”.
“Strong and resilient health systems are the lines of defence to pandemics and other health threats as Covid-19 also brought a rude awakening of how totally import-dependent we are when it comes to pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other critical commodities”.
“Developing and supporting capacity to begin indigenous medical Industry is a national security issue, to not only protect our citizens but also mitigate capital flight derived from importation of all vaccines”.
“The Federal Government is working with an indigenous private pharma company to make Nigeria a vaccine manufacturing hub for West Africa and beyond”.
“Government has 49% stake in BioVaccines Nigeria Ltd (BVNL) a PPP venture to produce various vaccines in-country. This helps ensure the resilience we seek becomes reality to be celebrated in the quest for self-sufficiency, even in the face of surprises”.
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