Gov Umahi, deputy, receive COVID-19 vaccine jabs

Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi, has warned against the commercialization of the COVID-19 vaccines, warning that such an act would create room for fake vaccines to flood the nation.

Umahi gave the warning on Thursday while receiving the COVID-19 vaccine jab alongside his deputy, Bar. Eric Kelechi Igwe at the state new Government House Abakaliki.

Receiving the vaccine administered to him by the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Umezuruike, Umahi charged his deputy to strictly monitor the process of the vaccination and to ensure that those stipulated to receive the vaccine were all captured in the 13 local government areas of the state.

He further reiterated that the vaccines should not be made mandatory for citizens even as he urged the health workers and those above 60 years of age to ensure they receive the vaccine to protect themselves from the dangers of the pandemic.

“We must ensure strict monitoring of the vaccination because if we do not monitor it closely, there are two things that will start happening. You will see the vaccine going outside the confines of the ministry and then the people will be asked to pay money.

“They will ask people to pay money to be vaccinated. Then the fake COVDI-19 vaccination will also come in and that will kill our people. I don’t want anything that will kill our people. So I want this vaccination to be properly monitored.

“I want everyone that will be vaccinated to fill a form and that form must be signed by the Deputy Governor and the Commissioner for Health before the vaccination will take place.

“The Deputy Governor must send to me daily, how many persons have been vaccinated and at the end of every week, the cumulative figure of the number of persons vaccinated.

Giving a breakdown of those to be vaccinated, Governor Umahi said that members state House of Assembly will be allocated 1000 doses, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki 4,000, the State Exco, their spouses and their children above 18 years, members of the judiciary 1,000 and security agencies 4,000.

Others include elderly people above 60 years 1,3000, Local Government Chairmen and their families 2,500, State Civil Servants 3,500, Local Government Civil Servants 3,500, Government House Workers 1,000 and others 2,390.

He urged the task force to ensure that the vaccination must be completed within a period of 10 days to maintain its efficacy and urged the people to embrace the vaccination.

Administering the vaccines, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Umezuruike, said that the state is following the national guideline in the vaccination exercise and commended the governor and other strategic leaders for volunteering to be vaccinated.

According to him, all the plans to ensure the success of the vaccination has been put in place, adding that the health workers have been trained to give the vaccines.

He, however, noted that the state has five centres in each local government area for the vaccination and assured the state governor of the smooth vaccination exercise.

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