Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Thursday received his first dose of Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, even as he tasked Nigerians to continue to keep faith with the non pharmaceutical protocols of the dreaded disease in order to forestall its spread.
Governor Ikpeazu, who was vaccinated by his personal physician, Dr. Mike Enyinnaya at the Government House, Umuahia encouraged all those within the age bracket recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to avail themselves of the opportunity of being vaccinated.
He contended that the deployment of vaccine as a device to fight COVID-19 is a global decision endorsed by the World Health Organization and captured by the NCDC stop the spread of the pandemic.
The Abia chief executive therefore charged every Nigerian, particularly Ndi Abia to key into the agenda.
The governor had earlier formally received the official consignment of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from a delegation of the federal government.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Chinagozie Adindu assured that the vaccine is effective and efficacious, revealing that after this first dose, those vaccinated would receive another second short in the next two months between eight and 12 weeks.
He disclosed that the quantity will be enough for the frontline health workers, all health workers in the State, both of public and private hospitals, members of the State COVID-19 Inter Ministerial Task Force, law enforcement agencies among other front liners.
Adindu explained that the second batch of the vaccine would target the vulnerable and those that have underlining ailments and the elderly, pointing out that at the end of this year, 40 percent of the population in Abia State will have been vaccinated.
Uche Nwosu is a two time Shell Petroleum PLC award winner in the year 2000;
He won the Shell Award on Investigative Journalism and Environmental Cleanliness.
