The Federal Government yesterday expressed worry over the low coverage of the COVID-19 vaccination rate across the country.
It said only three states – Nasarawa, Jigawa and Kano – have so far performed optimally with over 50 per cent vaccination coverage.
This left 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with less than 50 per cent coverage of the vaccination against the pandemic.
The government also said as of August 8, 2022, not less than 40 million eligible Nigerians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while over 27.7 million have been fully vaccinated, which represents 25 per cent of the total population of those vaccinated.
This falls short of the 70 per cent vaccination target by the end of the year.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had expressed concern over the vaccination rate in Africa, especially in Nigeria, stating that although the country’s vaccination rate was commendable, more should be done because if Nigeria cannot do it, then Africa cannot.
Speaking during the official kick-off of the S.C.A.L.E.S 3.0 Strategy by the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), in Abuja, to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination, routine immunisation and other primary health care services, Health Minister Dr. Osagie Ehanire said: “Total performance still falls short of our desire. This is because as of August 3, 2022, only about 25 per cent of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated, with only three states – Nasarawa, Jigawa and Kano – having vaccination coverage of over 50 per cent.
“We are left with 34 states, including the FCT, performing not quite optimally in vaccination coverage. Hence, the need for the team to refine the current 2.0 S.C.A.L.E.S Strategy to accelerate the vaccination by identifying the enablers that are unique to each state, and developing them and also deploying them as States specific strategies that will help us to ramp up coverage.”
Addressing reporters, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said: “What we are rolling out today is the S.C.A.L.E.S 3.0, which is an improvement over the S.C.A.L.E.S 2.0 COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
“We reviewed the performance of the states and looked at the bottlenecks, and then decided that there were specific fixes to the strategies that were required.
“We are looking at how we can now move closer to the people by looking not only from the health facilities but making sure that we are able to go settlement-by-settlement, and then in some instances, go door-to-door.
“This will ensure that the vaccines are now brought closer to where people live and work. We are also using the opportunity to provide second doses of booster doses to Nigerians who have already taken the first dose, and for first timers to go and take the COVID-19 vaccine.”