By Ahmed Kaigama

Bauchi State government on Wednesday received 150,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines allocated by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The Deputy Governor, Alhaji Baba Tela, said this while receiving the vaccines at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi.

Tela assured residents of the state that the government would soon commence the vaccination in line with the scheduled guidelines by NPHCDA.

He said that 80, 570 doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be administered to frontline health workers, government officials, traditional, religious leaders and security personnel.

Tela, also the Chairman of the state Task Force Committee on COVID-19 and Lassa fever, declared that “the vaccine is potent.’’

According to him, the vaccine has been administered across the world and all those who took it are doing well.

“The World Health Organisation has approved it, therefore, we in Bauchi are ready to take it,” the deputy governor said.

He further said that Gov. Bala Mohammmed, would lead other top government officials to take the vaccine after which others in the legislature and security would take their turns.

The deputy governor said that the vaccine would be distributed to the 20 Local Government Areas and 323 wards in the state where it would be administered to frontline health workers and other vulnerable people, including the aged and children.

He advised citizens to shun misinformation making the rounds about the vaccines, adding that it had been scientifically tested and certified fit for human use by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Tela assured that the quantity supplied to the state would be administered and urged the people not to be afraid but embrace the vaccine as the surest way of avoiding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking earlier, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA) said that the vaccines arrived late Tuesday night and was taken into the cold store to maintain its potency.

Mohammed added that the vaccines must be administered immediately in line with the direction of its usage, stressing that it was potent in fighting COVID-19 infection.

He assured the people that the government would ensure that the vaccine went round everybody in order to rid the state of COVID-19. (NAN)

By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal

The Kwara Government on Tuesday night received its own consignment of the COVID-19 vaccines.

This is contained in a statement by the Press Secretary, Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development, Mosebolatan Olayemi, in Ilorin.

The consignment was received by the State government’s team led by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Abubakar Ayinla at the Ilorin International Airport at about 8.30p.m.

Dr Nusirat Elelu, the Executive Secretary Kwara Primary Healthcare Development Agency who addressed newsmen, said the state is excited to witness the delivery of the vaccines to support its fight against coronavirus.

“We are certainly very excited to receive these vaccines for Kwara. This is a very historic day in the history of not just Kwara but the whole of the country.

“This signifies that there is light at the end of the tunne.

“COVID-19 has ravaged the whole world in the last one year and I know that those that have lost loved ones or are down with COVID-19 or just recovered from COVID-19 will know that this is certainly a historic day for us.

“We expect our people to come out and get themselves protected (once the schedules have been released) because the vaccines have been proved to be effective against this infectious disease.

”This is an opportunity to protect our people against the deadly disease,” she said..

Elelu stated that the vaccine is going to be administered in four phases.

“The first phase will target the front liners. our frontline health workers, people that work at the port of entries, members of the military and some of our strategic leaders.

“The reason we are also prioritising our strategic leaders is for them to serve as an example to show the world that the vaccine is safe, effective and efficient,” she said.

She also assured Kwara people that the administration of the vaccines will be launched within the next few days.

The News Agenct of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria on March 4, received 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.

It is the first shipment for the over 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility.

Nigeria is expected to receive an additional 42 million doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. (NAN)

By Abujah Racheal

The Director General, West African Health Organization (WAHO), Prof Stanley Okolo, has disclosed that the World Bank-funded REDISSE programme had utilized  over $583,million allocated for WAHO and ECOWAS countries  to  fund the implementation of their 2016 -2020 strategic plan.

REDISSE stands for Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE), an  programme interdependent Series of Projects designed to strengthen national, regional and cross-sectoral capacity for integrated disease surveillance and response in West Africa.

Okolo made the disclosure  in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, in Abuja,  on the sidelines of the 5th Regional Steering Committee meeting of the REDISSE.

”The REDISSE Program supports 11 countries in West Africa: Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone (REDISSE Phase 1); Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria (REDISSE Phase 2); and Benin, Niger, Mauritania, Mali (REDISSE Phase 3).

“REDISSE Phase 4 expanded the program to five countries in Central Africa, including Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”, he said.

He disclosed that WAHO served as a regional coordination and implementation agency and the Program Secretariat for the countries of West Africa and Mauritania.

Okolo added that the project consisted of five components: C1: Surveillance and Health Information; C2: Laboratory Capacity Building; C3: Emergency Preparedness and Response; C4: Human Resources Management for Effective Disease Surveillance and Epidemic Preparedness; and C5: Institutional Capacity Building, Project Management, Coordination and Advocacy.

 “The Project Development Objective is to strengthen national and regional cross-sectoral capacities for collaborative disease surveillance and epidemic preparedness in West Africa, addressing weaknesses in human and animal health systems that hinder disease surveillance and effective disease response

”In the event of an emergency, the project would provide an effective immediate response to the said emergency,” he explained.

 The WAHO DG noted that REDISSE Project had made significant progress in achieving its objectives in West Arica, through improvement of the heath information system and creation of a regional platform for data collection.

In addition, he added, it had recorded significant improvement in the laboratory capacity of the West Africa region, by the establishment of the network of regional laboratories and the development of regional guidelines for laboratory samples transportation.

“WAHO and countries have also supported capacity building of human resources for health in disease epidemiology, through frontline, intermediate and advanced level FELTP training.

“The development of the ECOWAS regional emergency preparedness and response plan and the establishment of both the Regional Rapid Response Teams and National Rapid Response Teams have contributed to the significant capacity improvement for emergency preparedness, which has been evident in the support provided to the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These actions have been instrumental in the deployment of the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), trainees, decentralization of laboratory capacity and unified regional platform for accessing COVID-19 data,” he explained.

The 5th Regional Steering Committee meeting was convened to assess the implementation of the REDISSE project, evaluate progress achieved towards meeting project objectives, and make recommendations for enhancing the implementation and achievement  of the objectives.

The implementation of the recommendations of the last Regional Steering Committee meeting held in Lome in November 2, 2019 would also be assessed. 

Other issues of the agenda would be the consideration of the report of the Technical Committee meeting on the level of implementation of the 2020 AWPBs and PPs of countries, its analysis and validation by implementing partners, WHO, OIE, RAHC, CCISD, FMx, University of Ghana, University of Ouagadougou 1 and WAHO,  all with a view to proffer recommendations to improve the implementation of the project. 

By Abujah Racheal

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 346 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), taking the total number of infected people in Nigeria to 159,252.

The NCDC gave the figures on its official Twitter handle on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also reports that six people died from COVID-19 related ailments in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,988 and the number of patients who have recovered from the disease put at 139,056.

The NCDC stated that the 346 new infections were recorded in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the last 24 hours.

The NCDC stated that Lagos recorded the highest number of new cases with 86 infections on Tuesday.

Bauchi followed closely with 64 cases and Kaduna and Kwara in third position reported 26 new cases each, while the FCT confirmed 24 infections, Rivers reported 23 and Plateau had 22 cases of the virus.

Ogun reported 16, Ebonyi-14, Bayelsa-12, Cross River-10, Edo-eight, Akwa Ibom-five, Ekiti-three, Gombe-two, Kano-two, Osun-two and Delta-one.

The NCDC said that 554 people have been successfully treated and have been discharged from different isolation centres in the last 24 hours.

According to the NCDC, today’s discharges include 170 community recoveries in Lagos State and 83 in Kwara managed in line with guidelines.

The agency said that the country’s COVID-19 active cases stood at 18,208 in the last 24 hours.

The NCDC said that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities in the country.

NAN recalls that the country has tested 1,601,396  people for the virus since the pandemic outbreak in the country last year.

By Emmanuel Antswen

The Benue State Government on Tuesday acknowledged the receipt of 50,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mrs Ngunan Addingi, said this at the end of the Executive Council Meeting in Makurdi.

Addingi said that the vaccination was completely voluntary.

She said: ”The state government has received a total of 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for onward vaccination of Benue citizens.

Addingi said the state action committee on COVID-19 would meet to determine the modalities and when the vaccination would begin.

The commissioner said that the state Executive Council also approved the sum of N163.6 million as government’s 10 per cent monthly contributory pension for its workers.

Addingi added that the council approved the sum of N77.4 million for the training of Special Constables in the state and another N34 million as their monthly stipends. (NAN)