Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, has been crawling on the road to herd immunity at a time peers like Ghana’s capital, Accra, has strategically deployed resources to vaccinate more people within a short period.
The pomp about getting allocated 507,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine has come and gone but the effort to rollout lacks energy.
In 10 days of vaccinating those classified eligible for the first phase, 46,369 persons have received shots. At an average of 4,369 individuals vaccinated daily, Lagos crawls far behind the vaccination train of Greater Accra, Ghana’s capital.
The region has seen 252,794 people receive jabs in two weeks, at a daily average of 18,056. Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra alone has administered jabs to 3,000 front-line healthcare workers.
Lagos started vaccination on March 9, while Accra began March 5, a four-day difference.
However, Lagos with over 20 million estimated population has done far less than Accra, a smaller region with a fourth of that population, estimated at 5 million.
If vaccination is maintained at the current pace, it will take Lagos approximately two months to catch up with Accra’s current record, and roughly four months to administer its entire vaccine allocation of 507,000.
Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, public affairs director, Lagos State Ministry of Health, was contacted by BusinessDay over questions on what was dragging the state back. But he failed to respond to the calls.
Vaccination of 122,000 Nigerians representing 0.05 percent of the population, generally lags behind when compared with Ghana and South Africa to mention a few countries.
Ghana in two weeks has administered 457,844 doses, marking 0.8 percent of its total population. South Africa has administered 182,983, which is 0.3 percent of its population.
Ghana’s record is supported by the deployment of self-flying drones for deliveries.
As part of a new partnership between Zipline, a medical drone delivery company, logistics giant the UPS Foundation and the Government of Ghana, up to 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed to vaccination sites in the coming weeks and months.
Refrigerated trucks from the UPS fleet met the shipment on the tarmac and ferried the vaccines safely to the National Cold Room, a central storage facility run by Ghana’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).
Since then, vehicles have been used to transport doses onward to regional EPI cold-points and four Zipline launch-bases for the company’s squadrons of autonomous medical delivery drones.
The combination of scepticism over safety and slow administration system has been identified as drawbacks for Nigeria.
Even though many Nigerians have been out and about, living like the pandemic is over, a more efficient vaccination could hasten further recovery, mostly in sectors more sensitive to the pandemic.
Vaccinations could help elective surgeries sail smoothly in the health sector. Travelling might ease further and hotels, restaurants among others pick up better.
Testimonies of vaccination have been increasing online, as excited enrollees post their experiences at various parts of the state on social media, some displaying their green card with a QR code confirmation of vaccination.
Israel Oni, a pharmacist via his handle, @pharmradio, posted videos of his vaccination procedure at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, calming fears of followers concerned about possible side effects and safety issues that may arise from taking the vaccine.
“Most of the side effects I experienced subsided after taking the recommended doses of Paracetamol. I was back on my feet the following day to attend to my patients again,” said Oni, sharing his experience with BusinessDay.
“I know there are so many controversies surrounding the vaccine and its safety, but I can tell you the vaccine is safe,” Oni said.
Despite his reassurance, Oni’s comment section was still dotted with queries about the controversy of the AstraZeneca vaccine triggering blood clot, suggesting that the government must do more to build public confidence in order to improve the vaccination rate.
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