FG Says War Against COVID-19 Not Yet Over

Boss Mustapha, Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Fed­eration, on Monday warned that the war against COVID-19 is by no means over.

According to Daily Independent, Boss Mustapha said this while leading all mem­bers of the PTF to receive the first doses of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a further demonstration of its safety and efficacy. ­

Mustapha stressed that “in this war, we are all involved in this because nobody is safe until everybody is safe. Our ultimate objective is to vaccinate about 70 percent of our population which is about 200 million, between year 2021 and 2022.

“The process of orderly rollout, deployment and ad­ministration of the vaccines will, undoubtedly, further test our ability to do things proper­ly and strategically. Real time authentic information must go out, mobilisation must be effective and timely, while transparency and account­ability must be evident in all we are doing to the last mile.

“All these shall involve the governors, our legislators, all sub-national entities, the me­dia, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisa­tions, business communities, labour organisations, leaders of thought, parents, etc. No stone will be left unturned to reach the population of eligi­ble Nigerians.

“I wish to admonish Nige­rians to remember that while vaccines offer great hope, it cannot on its own protect you completely. We must contin­ue to observe the non-phar­maceutical measures earlier introduced. There is no doubt that their effectiveness will help to minimize the impact of the virus in Nigeria and our attitude must be NPIs + Vaccines. The initial strategy, therefore, shall be sustained because we must continue to prevent, detect, isolate and treat. The war against COVID-19 is by no means over.”

He said the Ministry of Aviation and the NCAA have been tasked to take necessary reciprocal measures against Emirate and Lufthansa air­lines as may be permissible under the laws and other international obligations as regards the month old engage­ment with the authorities of the UAE and the Netherlands over pre-departure testing requirements passengers should meet before travelling from Nigeria.

The SGF reiterated the call to Nigerians not to allow vac­cines hesitancy propagated through conspiracy theories sway them from the path of doing the right thing.

He said: “Taking the vac­cines will protect you, your loved ones and the entire com­munity. I similarly wish to warn against patronising un­authorised vaccines peddlers. The only recognised safe and efficacious vaccines are those coming through the National Primary Health Care Devel­opment Agency (NPHCDA). We should remain vigilant.”

The jab was given to Min­isters of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Environment, Muhammad Mahmood; Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyema; World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Nigeria, Mr. Walter Mulombo; Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Fais­al Shuaib; Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu; SGF Director of Press, Willie Bassey; Perma­nent Secretary, General Ser­vices Office (GSO), OSGF, Dr. Maurice Nnamdi, and former Permanent Secretary, GSO, Olusegun Adekunle.

Others are Permanent Secretary, Political, OSGF, Andrew David Adejoh; PTF National Incident Manager, Dr. Mohammed Mukhtar; Director General and Chief Executive Officer for the Nige­rian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, and Head of Department, Sur­veillance and Epidemiology Department (NCDC), Mrs. Elsie Ilori.

Also, four journalists who are considered part of the crit­ical front-liners in the fight against the virus received the vaccine in a representa­tive manner.

The journalists are Friday Okoregba of Channels Televi­sion; Hassan Tukur of Liber­ty Television; Nancy Oyediya Urum of Africa Independent Television (AIT), and Rahila Lassa of Voice of Nigeria (VON).

All those who received their first jabs administered by Obuba Horsefall, the super­vising nurse, Adaga Lucy and Obodia Ogonna did e-registra­tion and filling out of their vaccination cards and were later presented with vaccina­tion cards.