The Lagos State government on Wednesday revealed that it has concluded the first half of phase one COVID-19 vaccination campaign in line with the directive of the federal government with over 250,000 persons vaccinated in the state.
A statement signed by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, stated that the conclusion of the first phase exercise which began on March 12 took an average of 20 days, with a directive from the Federal Government that vaccination should be stopped once half of the consignment has been administered so that those who received the first dose will have an opportunity for the second dose.
To this effect, the government has consequently shut down all its vaccination centers.
Abayomi stated that this will ensure that at least one per cent of Lagos residents receive the full complement of doses required to enable the protection the vaccine promises, adding that the target to achieve effective herd immunity is vaccination of at least 60% of the Lagos State population.
It will be recall that Lagos State got 507,000 doses of the 3.92 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine facilitated through support from the COVAX facility.
As revealed by the Commissioner, Lagos State as of 15th of April 2021 had inoculated 257,756 persons, consisting of health workers, frontline workers including; security agents, ports of entry staff, judiciary, petrol station workers, contingency workers and strategic leaders.
He said the government went a step further to vaccinate willing pensioners, people aged 70 and above, teachers and journalists during the same period making Lagos the only State that has inoculated more than 200,000 residents during the period.
Abayomi also revealed that the remaining doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca #COVID19 vaccine have been reserved at the Lagos State Cold Chain Store for the second dose exercise, which will commence on the 28th of May, 2021, following the expiration of the 8-12 weeks interval as required by the manufacturers. The vaccines are due to expire on 9th July 2021.
He said residents should check their vaccination cards for their next appointment dates and where possible to try to go to the same health facilities where they got their initial dose for their second dose.
“There is no need for citizens who have received the first dose to pre-register before going to the health facility for the second dose because their already captured details will only be updated with additional information after vaccination,” he added.
Of the 257,756 persons inoculated as of the 15th of April 2021, 59,444 (23.1%) are health workers, 109,809 (42.6%) are essential workers and 88,503 (34.3%) are strategic leaders.
Gender distribution data indicated that more females have been vaccinated than males; with 131,283 females representing 50.9% and 126,473 males representing 49.1% vaccinated as of April 15th, 2021.
According to evaluation report, Eti-Osa, Lagos Mainland, Ikeja, Kosofe, Alimosho and Surulere are the top six Local Government Areas with the highest number of persons vaccinated. 28,257 and 25,094 persons were vaccinated in Eti-Osa and Lagos Mainland.
In Ikeja LGA, 23,194 persons were vaccinated; in Kosofe LGA, 19,398 people received the COVID vaccine. For Alimosho and Surulere, 18,954 and 14,963 persons were vaccinated.
Apapa, Amuwo-Odofin, Badagry, Epe, and Ibeju-Lekki local governments have the least number of citizens vaccinated, with less than 8,000 persons vaccinated for each.
The commissioner further revealed that so far, following the administration of the first dose of the vaccine to 257,756 persons, just a few of the persons vaccinated experienced what is termed adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) or adverse event of special interest (AESI) characterised by pain at the injection site, fever or body pains lasting 24 to 48 hours and anaphylactic shock.
“We are being extremely diligent for blood coagulation disorders in view of the prevailing international scientific attention to the possibility of increased risk of developing blood clotting disorders and two cases are being investigated,” he stated.
