Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, his Deputy, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo and the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Priscilla Emehelu, on Monday, received doses of COVID-19 vaccine jabs at the Government House, Enugu.
The event was witnessed by the Wife of the Governor, Mrs. Monica Ugwuanyi; Commissioner for Health, Dr Ikechukwu Obi; and Dr George Ugwu, Executive Secretary, Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ENS-PHCDA), among others.
In his speech, Ugwu said that the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine “is safe and its efficacy remained highly reliable”.
He noted that this event, where key stakeholders of the state took their jabs of the doses of the vaccine, further pointed to the efficacy and the credibility of the vaccine.
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“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, secured and given free-of-charge and its efficiency and integrity are highly reliable and guaranteed,’’ he said.
Ugwu applauded Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for supporting all efforts to ensure that the vaccine arrived the state, training for vaccinators and other provisions for the vaccine to residents notwithstanding their locations.
It would be recalled that the first recipient of the jab in the state, Dr Okechukwu Ogbodo, a front-line health worker at Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH) Isolation and Treatment Centre, Enugu, had encouraged residents to take the vaccine.
Ogbodo said: “I can tell you that almost 30 minutes after taking the vaccine I am hale and hearty; no reaction. So, I want to encourage everybody in Enugu State to come and take this vaccine.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state received 65,400 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Abuja recently.
The state government through ENS-PHCDA had trained and prepared 102 vaccination teams for the first batch of the vaccination, which would cut-across all health workers, selected key/strategic leaders and some other highly vulnerable people.