Edo State Primary Health Care Dev Agency Flags Off Scales 3.0 COVID 19  Vaccinations

By Simeon OSAJIE

 Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency in conjunction with its partners flag off COVID 19 Scales 3.0 Vaccinations in Benin City, the Edo State Capital.

Addressing participants at the event tagged, “Strategy For Accelerating COVID 19. Vaccination In Edo” the deputy governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu pointed out that he is pleased with the progress made by the government to rid the state of the dreaded corona virus.

Comrade Philip Shaibu represented by the Commissioner for  Health, Prof, Mrs. Akoria, opined that  it is heartwarming that today we continue the march to gradual return to normal with the commencement of  Scales  3.0 strategy for COVID 19 vaccination in our resolve to collectively defeat the scourge of the virus.

“The Scales 3.0 campaign will be taking place in all the eighteen (18) local government areas of the State where vaccination sites will be established beyond our health facilities, adding that several vaccination sites including organisations, religious houses, market places and other strategic and busy locations with high traffic would be targeted,” she said.

Going further, Prof. Mrs. Akoria added that there was the need for more people to be vaccinated saying that when more than 70 percent of the entire population is vaccinated, the march towards defeating the dreaded disease could be guaranteed.

“Our experience from the previous vaccination campaigns is that there is a lot of misconception  and we need to focus on what the people are saying, why they do not want to be vaccinated so that we can  deal with those challenges with a view to eradicating them  so that  herd-immunization can be achieved” she concluded.

Pa. Wilberforce Osayande  , a community leader present at the event applauded the Edo State government for taking adequate  steps to defeat COVID 19 scourge. He said he had earlier taken the vaccine since last year advising those who have not taken theirs to go ahead and do so, as, according to him, “the  vaccine is safe and it is only when all of us have taken the vaccine that adequate protection from the scourge can be guaranteed”.

Other speakers at the event include Dr Joel Yakubu Cherima representive of USAID MRITE  Project,  Dr. Pius Ononigwe, representative of Africa CDC, Edo State and Dr. Efemeno Onowugbode representative of the World Health Organisation, Edo State coordinator amongst others.