By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Taiwo Ladipo has disclosed that not less than 70 per cent of people in Oyo State are unprotected through vaccination from the COVID-19 virus.
Dr Ladipo made this known while speaking on Friday at the flag off of Scale 3.0 Vaccination Campaign held at the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board Secretariat, Ibadan.
The commissioner stressed that the scale 3.0 vaccination is meant to further protect the residents of Oyo state against COVID- 19 pandemics.
According to Dr Ladipo, Oyo State’s target is to ensure that at least 70 per cent of people residing in the state get vaccinated, but that as at present, about 30 per cent of people in Oyo State have been vaccinated.
The commissioner said that with the fourth wave of COVID-19 gradually sweeping Nigeria, not less than 70 per cent of people in Oyo State are unprotected through vaccination from the virus.
Dr. Ladipo hinted that more people need to be vaccinated in the state in order to be protected against the virus which in the past, made many people fell sick and even die.
” With the fourth wave of COVID -19 gradually sweeping Nigeria, not less than 70 per cent of people in Oyo State are unprotected through vaccination from the virus. Up to 30 per cent of people have been vaccinated with either one or more doses”, he said.
Dr Ladipo added ” The goal is not 30 per cent but 70 per cent. We need to ensure that people have the vaccine. This is another opportunity for those that have not had 3 doses of the COVID -19 vaccine to do so”.
“The battle against COVID-19 is not lost, but we do not want to lose, so everyone needs to be involved with the vaccination process so that everyone is ensured to be safe from the virus.”
Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji in his remarks said the Scale 3.0 COVID-19 Vaccination campaign was to aggressively ramp up vaccination in the state and to protect lives even as Nigeria enters the fourth wave of COVID-19.
Dr Olatunji pointed out that Oyo state ” has in store various variants of the COVID-19 vaccines and they are safe as proven by many people that have taken the vaccine since 2020 who are still alive and healthy.”
He then urged everyone to preach the benefits attributed to COVID19 vaccination to members of the community,in order to make the state attain herd immunity against the virus and for the safety of people living in the state.
Speaking, the World Health Organisation’s State Coordinator, Dr Philips Zorto, while lamenting poor uptake of health interventions like vaccination in the state, tasked the people of Oyo state to get vaccinated and mobilise others for the exercise.
Dr. Zorto emphasized that the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state was small unlike other states in the country.
