12,720 Lagos residents receive COVID-19 vaccine in 48 hrs — Abayomi

 

 

12,720 Lagos residents receive COVID-19 vaccine in 48 hrs — Abayomi

By Olasunkanmi Akoni At least 12,720 residents in Lagos have received the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine within 48 hours when the exercise was flagged off in the state. Recall that the vaccination started on March 12 at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba with 88 other accredited centres in the 20 local government areas starting on March 15.

The state had earlier received 507,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the Federal Government last week. The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi disclosed this via his official Twitter handle @ProfAkinAbayomi. Abayomi added that of the number, 6,535 are males.

The first jab of the AstraZeneca Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine was administered in Lagos State. The Incident Commander in the State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, kicked off the vaccine rollout programme after he got the first jab of the serum. Sanwo-Olu was vaccinated on Friday afternoon at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba, behind the Deputy Incident Commander and Commissioner for Health, who took the first shot. The Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, also got the shot of the vaccine while members of the state Executive Council were vaccinated on subsequent days. Speaking, Abayomi said those that enrolled in the vaccination programme would get two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine each within 12 weeks apart. The first dose, Prof. Abayomi said, will help achieve about 60 per cent protection, while the second dose would give above 80 per cent protection. “It is important to emphasise that, after being vaccinated, it doesn’t guarantee that you would not contract COVID-19. There is still a possibility of contracting the virus, but the chance of developing severe to critical disease significantly diminish if you have achieved this level of immunity” Abayomi said. On the situation report on cases of the virus in the state, the commissioner, however, said that bed occupancy in public and private COVID-19 care centres has reduced from 60 per cent to eight per cent. Abayomi said from the beginning of February, there had been a decline in bed occupancy rate at the care centres. According to him, five of the 11 private and public care centres were currently empty.

Nigeria news paper