Oyo State conducting sterility test on COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine

Oyo State is conducting a sterility test on the 127,740 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, it received from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA).

Commissioner for Health, Dr Bashir Bello, made this known on Wednesday in Ibadan while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the weekly state’s Executive Council meeting.

Bello said complaints and rejection of the vaccine by some countries, particularly some European countries over the safety status of the vaccine necessitated the decision.

“The sterility test is to determine if the vaccines do not actually have other secondary forms of infective substance, these are being carried out at our two laboratories and in the next few days, we will have the result,’’ he stated.

The commissioner said the outcome of the sterility test and other precautionary measures would determine when to administer the vaccines to the people of Oyo State.

“We too in Oyo State have to take some basic precautionary measures. One of such was the provision of a safe place to keep the vaccines to ensure their potency.

“The type that we got is the one that can only operate between +2 degrees centigrade and +8 degrees centigrade.

He said three centres were being prepared for the vaccination.

They are hospitals and immunisation centres already in existence in local government areas; temporary centres, for people specifically in large areas, particularly high incident areas and the third centre will be for specialised groups.

In another briefing about the Council meeting, Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye, said the state government had approved the upgrade of its College of Education (Emmanual Alayande College of Education, Oyo), to a University of Education.

Olaleye said the upgrade was to contribute to the production of competent teachers with the required skills.

He stressed that the institution has all the requisites, human and material resources “to fully transform into a full-fledge university’.’

Olaleye said, however, that efforts were on-going to apply to the relevant authority for the upgrading of the institution.