- No major effect in Lagos
By Adeola Ogunlade
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, has said that Lagos State is aggressive about the vaccines campaign being the epic centre of COVID-19 in Nigeria in all that we do.
Abayomi said this at the COVID-19 Vaccine Summit organized by Global Emerging Pathogen Treatment (GET) Consortium held yesterday at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Conference, Alausa, Lagos.
The event tagged COVID-19 Vaccine’s Administration in Nigeria: Strategies to Manage Perception and Overcome Hesitancy brought together medical experts, civil society groups and government representatives.
It featured topic such as government role in ensuring effective COVID-19 vaccine access and distribution overcoming vaccine hesitancy in local communities a, tracking mis-information and effective ways of communicating COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria an understanding the advantages and possible challenges with AstraZeneca vaccines.
He said that Lagos carries the burden of the virus across Nigeria since the outbreak of the virus, we survived two waves, some countries are not as lucky as they have gone through the 3rd and 4th waves of the pandemic
“We are not taking any chances, this is an opportunity for Lagos to increase his resilience to this pandemic. We know that a lot of people in Lagos have been infected and there is a natural immunity and these vaccines just come to improve our ability to stop this virus from spreading within the community “, he said.
He continued: is been a very intense logistics planning in Lagos over the last three weeks. We have manage to vaccinate over 120, 000 people which amount to 0.53% of the population in the state in the last two weeks. We are continuing day by day until we reach and exhaust the vaccines that we have and we are expected to get more consignment from legitimate vaccines anywhere in the world.
He added that Lagos state has not experience major side effect from the virus as the immediate side effect is very acceptable. Nobody has died nor has any long term damage incident.
Abayomi said “Lagos has recorded about 300 minor and mild side effects and about 900 serious side effects but they are expected reaction to any vaccines. If you vaccinate 1, 000 people with polio, the recipients will react to it’s differently”.
“Most people who get the vaccine and they starts feeling headache, weak , we tell them to take paracetamol, eat well, sleep well and dehydrate properly. They can also call the number in the jab if any serious effect occurs after receiving the vaccine, adding that so far, we have not see any major side effect in Lagos.
Abayomi further noted thought these vaccines did go clinical trial in Africa; we don’t know its efficacy and side effect profile of these vaccines. As we roll it in Africa. We must monitor its efficacy and ensure its does not have a long term effect on our people.
Also speaking at the event, CEO MotherGold Consulting, Dr. Adesina Fagbenro identify fear of the side effect of the vaccines, distrust of commercial interest, racial experience in some countries, personal choice vs collective responsibility, alternative use and insufficient evidence are some of the factors that is making the people hesitant to the vaccines.
He task government to engaged the people through positive mass movement, enlightenment programme and lead by example as we work toward stemming out the tide of COVID-19.
Earlier In his words, the Chief Operating Officer GET Consortium, Babadoye Ayodotun said that summit is aimed at discussing the issues around the challenges that the government will likely face during the administration of COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria and how to tackle them.
He said that it is imperative that policymakers and government officials design and implement policies that would bridge the gap between people’s perceptions towards the vaccines and the willingness to receive the vaccines.