By Ayodele Oni
Only 40 percent of Nigeria’s population is expected to benefit from the Covid 19 vaccines due to arrive the country anytime from now.
Chairman, Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi who disclosed this said that only 80 million doses of the vaccine would be available this year.
These were contained in his lecture titled ‘The Role Of Nigeria State Governments In Recovery: Responses To Covid 19 Linked Challenges’ delivered on Tuesday at Chatham House Event, London, United Kingdom.
Dr Fayemi, who is also Ekiti state Governor, told his audience that states have been collaborating with the federal government to ensure that the vaccines are available in the country.
“Just last week, the NGF invited experts to brief Governors on vaccine procurement and administration. We had a National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, where the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) shared the plans around vaccines procurement.
“We expect about 80m doses of vaccines would be available in 2021 to cover 40% of the population, while another 60m doses is being planned for 2022.
“Beyond Government’s procurement of vaccines, we at the NGF are also strong proponents of the utilisation of public-private partnerships in vaccines procurement as a means of closing the gap between what is available and what is necessary to achieve herd immunity.”
According to him: “The impact of the pandemic was relatively mild in the first wave, the virulence and mortality seen in this second wave appears to have increased significantly.
“With increased demands for hospital bed space and oxygen requirements necessitating an increase in spending on health services both by federal and state governments.”
Giving a background if the pandemic in Nigeria, Dr Fayemi explained that “the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the health and economy of nations, including Nigeria.
“As at today, Nigeria has tested 1.3m persons for COVID-19, with 10% (131,242) of these confirmed positive.
“Compared with the global and Africa’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 2.2% and 2.5% respectively, Nigeria has fared better with a CFR of 1.2%.
“Six States, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Kaduna, Oyo and Rivers have contributed 70% of confirmed cases, with Lagos the commercial nerve of the country contributing about 40% of total burden.
“Data indicates that men appear to be disproportionately affected accounting for 69% of the confirmed cases. Most cases occur in people aged 31-40 years.
“In the medium to long term, we must begin to think strategically about the future of public health security and therefore explore the potential of in-country manufacturing of approved vaccines, following technology transfer.
“The pandemic is a good reminder of the implications of public health outbreaks on national security. We must take the leap and gain a better level of independence, in the area of vaccine research and development but also science generally.
“Another key point to note is ownership. Public health is not for the health sector alone as is popularly practiced in countries including Nigeria.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is perhaps our biggest lesson around this, as the pandemic has affected all spheres of the economy.
“Nigeria now has a National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) that includes a multi-sectoral approach to prepare for and respond to disease outbreaks.
“Every sector must now contribute to ensuring health security and this is not limited to the provision of funds alone.
“Many of the determinants of health are outside the health sector, and so we must have multi-sectoral leadership and response to public health emergencies.”
