COVID-19 VACCINATION: GOV OBIANO, TOP GOVT OFFICIALS & HEALTH WORKERS RECEIVE FIRST DOSE

Reporter : ONYINYE CHIJIOBI

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, has urged all citizens of the state to make themselves available to be vaccinated against Coronavirus disease as soon as possible.

The Governor made the appeal at the commencement of the vaccination, which took place at the state cold store located within the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka.

Governor Obiano announced that the State received the first batch of seventy eight thousand doses of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and advised residents of the state to register for vaccination.

He announced that apart from the symbolic vaccination, frontline health workers would be prioritized in the line-up.

While pointing out that he had taken his own, the Governor said that the vaccination, which usually comes in two tranches, could save people from contracting the deadly virus.

Governor Obiano, however, noted that taking the vaccine was not a licence to be careless about the preventive protocol until all the people around were vaccinated.

He maintained that the batch of the vaccine would be administered among the frontline medical personnel.

Some of the top government functionaries, who took the first jab, of the vaccine, including the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Uchenna Okafor and Commissioner for Works, Mr. Marcell Ifejiofor, advised Nigerians to protect themselves from the virus by taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

Others who received their first dose of the vaccine were some traditional rulers and some health workers.

The Co-ordinator, World Health Organization in the State, Dr. Chukwumuanya Igboekwu, noted that the vaccine was made possible through the COVAX facility and partners to give all countries equitable access to it.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Chioma Ezenyimulu, revealed that once people register online, they would be required to queue up to be vaccinated at the healthcare center closest to them.