The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has urged state governments to step up mass vaccination against COVID-19 as part of moves to combat the virus.
The agency, in its latest advisory urged state governors to enact and enforce vaccination mandate for local and state government workers.
This came to fore as the percentage for fully vaccinated Nigerians stalled at 4.2 per cent while those that had taken their first dose remained grounded at 9.8 per cent as of Sunday, January 9, 2021.
But the NPHCDA in its bid to speed up vaccination, in its advisory told governors that it was part of their responsibility to enact and to enforce vaccine mandate on state and local government workers.
The advisory partly reads, “Enact and enforce vaccine mandate for all state and local government workers, direct mandatory set up of mass vaccination sites in public places including markets, parks, event centres, stadia and academic institutions.
“Approve and direct the release of state counterpart funds for advocacy, communication and social mobilization, logistics and additional teams in quarterly tranches.
“Pay weekly unscheduled visits to at least one mass vaccination site to supervise and motivate the vaccination teams, chair weekly review meetings with traditional and religious leaders to address vaccination gaps.
BizWatch recalls that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, had in October announced that Federal Government workers who failed to show proofs of vaccination would be barred from government offices.
In the same vein, The Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shauib at a press briefing in 2021 had said that individuals who refused to get vaccinated would not be allowed to infect other people.
