As part of the concerted efforts to curtail the spread of the dreaded covid-19 pandemic through efficient media mobilization and public enlightenment, the Oyo State Government in collaboration with behavioural change NGO, Breakthrough Action Nigeria (BAN) organised a media orientation programme in Kankafo Inn, Ibadan, last week. This was organised to sensitize the covid-19 mass vaccination in the state, to push the boundaries of its activities since the first outbreak of the pandemic, and to involve the media in its mass vaccination campaign in the state.
It is against this backdrop that the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration was poised to making sure that citizens of Oyo State are duly informed of the potential dangers of relaxing the prohibitive measures that were put in place at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak and are willing to receive the covid-19 vaccination injections that are available in the state.
Eze Eze, the communications officer of Breakthrough Action Nigeria said that the collaborative efforts of the State Government with BAN is informed by the need to secure the commitment of the media for covid-19 mass vaccination in the State. In order to achieve this goal, the media was tasked to disseminate information that emphasizes on the benefits of vaccination in combating the covid-19 infection in the state.
Eze added that media can play a major role by stemming general uncertainties about the vaccine, dissuading cultural prejudices, religious myths, and fears of DNA distortion that are frustrating the mass vaccination campaign in the state.
Stressing on the need for every Oyo State residents to be vaccinated, Mr. Olarinde Olaoye Samuel of the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, OPSPHC noted: “ We tried to preach the preventive measures at the beginning, later we began to campaign on vaccination”. He stated that the cumulative suggested number of cases in Oyo State stands at 73,877. This includes the current 8,794 confirmed cases, 8,577 recovered persons, 192 dead, 25 active cases, and 8 new cases.
Despite the apathy towards the mass vaccination in the state, statistics obtained from the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board showed that 82, 314 and 58, 086 persons respectively have received the first and second dose of the Moderna vaccine while 261, 526 and 69, 261 persons respectively have received the first and second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccines.
Olarinde said that concerted efforts are being made to meet the ongoing target of 2M, 136,000 vaccination intake. This has made the state government to make the vaccine available through the 315PHCs in the wards, 44 Private Clinics, 113 mobile services, and other mobile teams. He assured journalists that the Oyo State Government is currently employing at least 2,000 ad-hoc medical professionals to drive its massive vaccination campaign.
While asked on the effectiveness of the vaccine, Olabode Kehinde, Director of Logistics of the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board assured that the health agency have procured adequate solar storage facility to keep the vaccine at the required temperate storage of (-2) and (-3) respectively. He added that the mass vaccination strategy has been streamlined from the National Centre for Disease Control, the National Primary Health Centre with the involvement of National Agency for Food and Drug Control, NAFDAC, the police, the DSS, the media and NGOs in order to achieve a trickle down effect, and to tackle issues of accountability as the vaccination campaign unfolds. He noted that the vaccine is a preventive in-take that helps one’s antibodies fight covid-19 effectively when one contacts it.
At a time when the world grapples with the New normal phenomena occasioned by the regulatory Covid-19 protocols, stakeholders, NGOs such as the Breakthrough Action Nigeria (BAN) as well as Government at all levels, are saddled with the task of maintaining and flattening the curve of the pandemic so that socioeconomic activities is restored to normalcy.