Awka
With less than a million persons vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state, Anambra State Government has launched another push to sustain the success recorded against the disease so far.
At an event at the Community Primary Health Centre, Mgbakwu, Awka North Local Government Area, Governor Chukwuma Soludo flagged off the S. C. A. L. E. S. 3.0 Strategy for Covid-19 mass vaccination in Anambra State, as a means to further cripple the potency in the spread of the disease in the state.
At the last count, 643, 658 persons have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Anambra State.
The S. C. A. L. E. S 3.0 strategy of COVID-19 mass vaccination which was flagged off nationally on Monday, August 8, 2022, is designed to become an evidence-based update that uses human-centered demand generation to address the low Covid-19 risk perception in the country.
It also looks to integrate other primary health care services using an implementation strategy that addresses bottlenecks on service delivery, communication, accountability and logistics.
The exercise will be handled by 350 teams deployed at fixed posts across the state.
The target is that a team is to vaccinate 60 people on daily basis and 360 people every week and so on for the next three months.
Flagging off the campaign, Governor Soludo emphasized the need for stakeholders such as community and church leaders to support the efforts of the government in properly educating and informing the populace on the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Governor Soludo who was represented at the ceremony by the Director of Public Health and Disease Control, Anambra State Ministry of Health, Dr Afam Anaeme said the state government will continue to give unfettered support to the Covid-19 mass vaccination.
“It is our belief as government that keying into the national S. C.A.L.E.S. 3.0 strategy will help to extend the reach so that more persons could get vaccinated,” he said.
The Executive Secretary, Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Chioma Ezenyimulu, on her part, insisted that the Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective in the reduction of the spread of COVID-19 and called on residents of the state to get vaccinated during this mass vaccination which will last for three months.
“What we are doing is to scale up the vaccination in Anambra state.
“When the National saw that we are not doing well with respect to the numbers, they developed a new strategy where people are incentivised to undertake this vaccination for us.
“Anambra state is now 26th in the vaccination log from 2nd that we were before, hence the need to adopt this strategy.
“As the vaccinators are recruited, we get all their data with which we will be able to pay them directly.
“The team is to vaccinate 60 people on daily basis and we are leaving the Mondays because of the security situation in the state,” she said.
The Director, Disease Control and Immunization, ANSPHCDA, Dr Placid Uliagbafusi explained that the vaccination will be done at fixed posts.
“This is to integrate COVID vaccine and other primary healthcare cases at the fixed posts.
“However, on church days and market days where you do not find many people coming to the fixed posts, the teams may need to move to the various places where people are congregating.
“The idea is to ensure that we scale up the vaccination and get more of our people because COVID-19 still poses a challenge to our people.
“If COVID-19 is not there, government and the partners cannot be spending so much resources on it especially in the time of economic crunch.
“So I advise our people to get themselves vaccinated now that it is still free,” he said.
The team lead of national supervisors of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Ogbonnaya Omaha, the State Technical Assistant, COVID-19 Vaccination, World Health Organization, Anambra State, Mr Shehu Muhammad and the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Red Cross Society, Anambra State Chapter, Engineer Kingsley Okoye in their separate goodwill messages explained that the campaign will also involve other primary health interventions such as checking people’s blood pressure, sugar level, nutrition and many others.
