The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib has revealed that less than 50 per cent of the Nigerian population has received their COVID-19 vaccination by the end of January.
This, he said was contrary to the plan of the agency, noting that the NPHCDA had planned to meet the 50 per cent vaccination target at the end of January
Shuaib disclosed this on Monday at the Presidential Steering Committee Media briefing on the progress of COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria.
The NPHCDA boss, however, noted that despite the setback, the mass vaccination effort has yielded significant results.
The executive director decried the anti-vaccine posture of some journalists, noting that it could impede the progress of the ongoing mass vaccination campaign.
He said, “Sadly, the information available to us is that there are quite a number of our distinguished members of the press who have not received their COVID-19 vaccine.
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“It is a matter of principle that you cannot promote what you do not believe in, and you cannot convince people about what you are not convinced.
“Our series of engagements with the media and vast array of information on COVID-19 vaccines available from trusted sources, plus evidence of the vaccine safety so far should suffice to convince everyone of us to get vaccinated.
“Majority of Nigerians depend on you – the journalist for rightful information to guide them and you do not stand the true chance of convincing anyone to seek protection against COVID-19 if you are not convinced.”
However, according to the data from the NPHCDA out of 111,776,503 eligible persons, 15,792,329 have been reached with the first dose of the vaccine while 6,172,468 have received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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