THE Federal Government on Monday again insisted that there was the need to make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory in the country.
It said plans were underway to make the vaccination compulsory for all federal public servants.
The Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, stated this during the committee’s national briefing in Abuja.
Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said the decision was meant to ensure safety in the workplace and at home.
“Efforts are ongoing to implement the policy on vaccine mandate for all federal public servants. This is to ensure safety in the workplace and at home,” he said.
Mustapha said there would be enough vaccines to go round soon, saying by the second quarter of 2022, Nigeria would have received about 52 million doses of vaccines.
He advised Nigerians to always carry their vaccination card details or barcode on their electronic devices for easy access especially for those travelling outside the country.
He said the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Aviation would continue to dialogue with the representatives of the United Arab Emirates to resolve the issue of the Emirates flights between Nigeria and the UAE, adding that the protection of the interest of Nigerians remains government’s primary focus.
Mustapha added, “Compliance with protocols laid down for quarantine to ensure control remains a source of worry to the PSC. The need to review the protocol has become expedient to align with existing global protocols and realities.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said as of September 12, 2021, a total of 4,052,756 eligible persons had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
This, he explained, was made up of 2,645,020 persons with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,407,736 eligible persons with the first dose of Moderna vaccine.
Shuiab added that a total of 1,692,315 eligible persons were fully vaccinated with Nigeria currently having a national average of 70.4% utilisation of the 2,000,040 doses of Moderna vaccine.
He however warned that anyone caught selling fake vaccination cards “will be made to face the wrath of the law.”
On his part, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the nation has recorded a total of 199,151 confirmed cases of COVID-19; 365 in the past 24 hours from 2,941,438 samples tested so far.
“We have also sadly altogether lost 2,598 persons, eight in the past 24 hours, and a case fatality rate of 1.3%, a slight increase over the 1.2% of a few weeks ago.
Punch
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