Tina Amanda
Rivers State Ministry of Health says it has commenced a Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign across the twenty-three local government areas, to curtail the spread of COVID-19 disease in the state.
Commissioner for Health, Professor Princewill Chike, who disclosed this while briefing journalists at the state Secretariat, said the mass vaccination is due to the anticipation of the fourth wave of COVID-19 and the number of persons vaccinated so far.
According to him, the state has tested and confirmed twelve thousand, eight hundred and seventy-four person’s positive to Covid-19, discharged twelve thousand six hundred and fifty-one persons and one hundred and fifty-four confirmed dead from COVID-19.
He noted further that a total of one hundred and ninety-three thousand one hundred and twenty-three persons have had their first and second doses (193,123), one hundred and forty-one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six (141,996) AstraZeneca and twenty-seven thousand five hundred and seventy (27,570) Moderna have been vaccinated with the second dose with a percentage coverage of 52 per cent between the first and second dose.
“Considering the population of Rivers State, the fact that the world is anticipating the fourth wave of COVID-19 and the number of persons so far vaccinated, there is a dire need to commence a mass vaccination campaign to vaccinate more than fifty per cent of the eligible population in the state to the pandemic in check.
“The state will commence the mass vaccination campaign from the 22nd November 2021, and this will run for 50 days. The state has trained (454) teams spread across the twenty-three LGAs. To this effect, there will be mass vaccination sites to be sited in highly populated areas like markets, etc.
“Mobile vaccination activities will be in place across all LGAs, outreach services will also be part of the campaign. The ministry has accredited some selected private facilities and community pharmacies where vaccination teams will be located.
“The state has set up a joint task force to monitor activities of fraudsters during the campaign, hence building the trust of the general public and international communities on our vaccination processes”
He urged the public to use the opportunity of the Mass vaccination to be vaccinated against COVID-19, in order to fight the spread.
“Rivers State is ready to vaccinate a large number of persons, kindly avail yourself the opportunity to get vaccinated. Vaccination is free of charge at all levels.”
The commissioner, however, warned the public to desist from flouting the Covid-19 protocols for burial, wedding and other gatherings, as anyone caught will pay the sum of one hundred million naira as penalty.
“The Ministry of Health want to use this medium to frown at those who abuse the approval for burial, the gazette is that no one should entertain more than fifty (50) persons in a burial, same as wedding and other gatherings, but the moment you give them approval, people turn it to a jamboree, we want to discourage it.
“I also want to use this medium to counter all the conspiracy theories, all those that tell the public Covid-19 is not real, they should desist from doing that. We want to plead with those on social media to be careful what they post in order not to mislead the public. Whatever information the public wants, Ministry of Health Rivers State will very much provide such any day, any time.”
