Many Nigerian governors have revealed that they will be taking the COVID-19 vaccine on live television to encourage Nigerians to accept the vaccine.
Many Nigerian governors have revealed that they will be taking the COVID-19 vaccine on live television to encourage Nigerians to accept the vaccine.
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, said he and his colleagues have accepted to do so.
“Absolutely. We too will like to demonstrate to our citizens that we believe that vaccines would work,” he said when asked if governors will also take the vaccines on live television.”
“Don’t forget, we have a lot of experience on this. Governors Forum managed the polio vaccines administration in the country and we have garnered a lot of experience,” said Fayemi, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum.
Yesterday, Faisal Shuaib, the executive director and chief executive officer, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), says provisions would be made for President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on live television.
Shuaib said administering the vaccine on live TV is part of efforts to promote awareness. He added that frontline health workers would also be given priority on receiving the vaccine when the doses arrive Nigeria.
“We will like to see a situation where Mr. president, the vice-president, the SGF, critical leaders come and take the vaccine in the full glare of the public to demonstrate that these vaccines are safe. So we have to make provisions for those,” he said.
“Even in developed countries, what we have seen is that apart from the prioritisation of health workers, you have to also identify critical leaders that you don’t want them to be wiped off by the virus. For example, in warfare, if you want to destroy your enemies, you look for specific leaders, captains, the generals; once you decapitate them, then the soldiers will become weak.
“So, as much as possible, you do not want to also leave your leaders vulnerable to COVID-19, it doesn’t mean you want to prioritise politicians; that is not correct. I emphasised during the last briefing that we will prioritise our health workers because they are the ones in direct contact with cases in isolation units.”
Shuaib had said the country hopes to get 42 million doses through the COVAX initiative, to ensure that 40 percent of the country’s population receives the vaccine in 2021, while another 30 percent will be vaccinated in 2022.
