The Oyo State government has commenced another round of COVID-19 vaccination campaign to curb the spread of the 4th wave of the pandemic, as it spreads through the country.
Speaking during the flag-off of the Scale 3.0 COVID-19 Vaccination campaign held at the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Secretariat, Ibadan; the Oyo state Commissioner for Health, Dr Taiwo Ladipo noted that vaccination campaign is necessary to protect the residents against COVID- 19 pandemics.
He added that about 30 percent of people in Oyo State have been vaccinated, although the state’s target is to ensure at least 70 percent of people residing in the state get vaccinated.
The commissioner said with the fourth wave of COVID-19 gradually sweeping Nigeria, nothing less than 70 percent of people in Oyo State are unprotected through vaccination from the virus.
Dr. Ladipo hinted that more people need to be vaccinated in the state in order to be protected against the virus which in the past had made many people fell sick and even died.
He said: “Up to 30 percent of people have been vaccinated with either one or more doses. The goal is not 30 per cent but 70 per cent. We need to ensure that people have the vaccine. This is another opportunity for those that have not had 3 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to do so.
“The battle against COVID-19 is not lost, but we do not want to lose, so everyone needs to be involved with the vaccination process so that everyone is ensured to be safe from the virus”, he added.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, said that the Scale 3.0 COVID-19 Vaccination campaign was to aggressively ramp up vaccination in the state and to protect lives even as Nigeria enters the fourth wave of COVID-19.
According to him, Oyo State has in store various variants of the COVID-19 vaccines and they are safe as proven by many people that have taken the vaccine since 2020 who are still alive and healthy.
Dr Olatunji, however, urged everyone to preach the benefits attributed to COVID19 vaccination to members of the community, in order to make the state attain herd immunity against the virus and for the safety of people living in the state.
In the meantime, the World Health Organisation’s State Coordinator, Dr Philips Zorto, decried poor uptake of health interventions like vaccination in the state, admonishing residents of the state to get vaccinated and mobilise others for the exercise.
He stated that the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state was small unlike other states in the country.
In another development, Chairman, Association of Community Pharmacist, Oyo State branch, Mr Abiodun Gbadamosi stated that twenty four(24) pharmacy shops across the state had been integrated into the vaccination team to provide COVID-19 vaccination in the community.
According to him, the pilot project involving Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, USAID Medicines, Technologies and Pharmaceutical Services programme and Breakthrough Action Nigeria, is to ensure more people have access to the vaccine and stem vaccine hesitancy in the community.
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