The Edo State government on Friday said the first batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines received from the Federal Government is “safe”, adding that the batch is not part of the doses being speculated to have adverse reactions.
Osamwonyi Irowa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, dispelled the rumour making the rounds that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines are dangerous for human use while reacting to a question asked by BusinessDay at a press conference in Benin City.
“From records, these batch in question are not part of the batches in Nigeria,” Irowa stated.
Irowa equally said the 81,080 vaccines appropriated to Edo State would be rolled out in four phases with the administration of the first phase after an electronic self-registration scheduled for frontline health workers, supporting staff and strategic leaders on Monday, March 15.
“Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, will officially flag off the 10-day campaign on Monday, March 15, 2021, at the new festival hall government house, in Benin City”, Irowa said.
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While noting that the vaccines is under the World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency use listing and has been approved by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), he said that the vaccines in the State are effective and would be administered free of charge.
The Permanent Secretary said all logistics have been put in place to keep the vaccines at the required temperature, adding that vaccinators would be in several designated health facilities and temporarily fixed posts to vaccinate patients.
According to him, healthcare workers will be available at vaccination posts to give answers to questions relating to the vaccine safety and management of possible side effects.
“The various fixed posts for the vaccination spread across the 18 LGAs have been identified and these locations will be adequately disseminated to the general public for ease of access.
“The second, third and fourth phases will include administering these vaccines to the elderly, those between 18-49 years with co-morbidities and the rest of the eligible population between the ages of 18-49 years respectively.
“This will enable us to avoid crowding at vaccination posts as the registered health care workers will be scheduled and reminded of their vaccination date via SMS and email,” he said.
He, however, appealed to media practitioners in the state to continue to support the State government in disseminating truthful, factual and objective information in order to dispel rumours around COVID-19 vaccines.
