Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday said it has reactivated the state’s COVID-19 response team ahead of the Moderna vaccines expected to arrive in the State by the weekend.
Obaseki made the disclosure during an inspection of the state’s Primary Healthcare Agency in Benin City.
The governor said the visit was to monitor the state’s readiness so as to effectively manage the rising cases of COVID-19 disease.
“With the work, our epidemiological team has been doing, we know that the Delta variant is already with us here in Nigeria. We are beginning to witness an increase in COVID-19 cases across the country.
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“The Edo State COVID-19 response team has been reactivated; l am the chairman of the team and the deputy governor is the chairman of the Technical Committee. The Permanent Secretary of the ministry of health, the Executive Secretary of the Primary Healthcare Development Agency and experts from the University of Benin are all ready to make sure that we are not caught unaware.
“We are receiving some Moderna vaccines this weekend and this visit is in preparation for the receipt of the vaccines and ensuring that we have the processes in place to deliver the vaccines to Edo people,” Obaseki said.
Greg Oko-Oboh, the state’s specialist epidemiologist, on his part, said the State will be receiving about 3.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, including Moderna, AstraZeneca, as well as Johnson and Johnson.
“We have enough and it will be spread over time. For now, we are expecting the Moderna vaccine, which is different from the AstraZeneca we had received before,”
“You cannot take different doses of the vaccines. If you take AstraZeneca as the first dose, it must be AstraZeneca for the second dose and not Moderna. The state and federal governments have tried to ensure that we have the two doses for vaccination,” Oko-Oboh said.
