Herd Immunity: Experts urge Nigerians to accept COVID-19 vaccines

For Nigeria to achieve herd immunity against the COVID-19 virus, the citizens must be willing to accept and take shots of the vaccines authorised for use by international health agencies.

This was the consensus when stakeholders in the health sector gathered at the end a knowledge-sharing event for the “Accelerating Equitable Access, Acceptance, and Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccines (ACCESS)” in Abuja on Thursday.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Primary Health Care Board, Isah Vatsa, said the country must vaccinate at least 70 per cent of the eligible population to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

Represented by the State Immunisation Officer, FCT, Nicholas Okoli, he said all stakeholders in the sector should collaborate and put in place strategies to reach eligible persons with the vaccines.

“Our target is to vaccinate every eligible person, 18 years and above, in Nigeria. That translates to about 70 per cent of the population. But as I speak to you now, we are still short of that 70 per cent.

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“Today, we are just about 60.1 per cent as against our target of 70 per cent. Though this 60.1 per cent is nationwide, if you come down to different states, we have those who are still at 54 per cent, some are at 60 per cent, and others 70 per cent,” he said.

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He said some states like Nasarawa have vaccinated 100 per cent of the population, noting that FCT has only vaccinated about 50 per cent of its eligible population against the virus.

The event, organised by Pathfinder International with support from the MacArthur Foundation, is to demonstrate the value of partnerships in strengthening systems for health security, with the theme: “Delivering Hope: Advancing Access and Quality in COVID-19 Vaccination.”

Sustaining protocols

Speaking at the event, the Country Director, Pathfinder International, Amina Dorayi, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much around and Nigerians must protect themselves against the virus by taking recommended doses of the vaccines.

Ms Dorayi said there are various variants of the virus, hence critical stakeholders must sustain the observance of COVID-19 protocols in the country to conquer these variants.

“I know that in the last couple of weeks, there was another wave of flu or viral-like symptoms and for those that were encouraged to go and take the COVID-19 test, quite a number of them still came out positive,” she said.

“But the good thing is that because of herd immunity, the symptoms are not as very fatal as they used to be in the beginning. But still, it doesn’t stop us from continuing to protect ourselves, especially by through hand washing, and keeping to the basic principles of being able to take preventive measures around COVID-19 and every other viral disease.”

Nigeria has so far recorded 259,951 COVID-19 cases and 3,155 deaths according to data published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

ACCESS project

Meanwhile, Ms Dorayi further explained that the ACCESS project was aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy, building trust, and ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Kano, Kaduna, and FCT.

She said the organisation worked with religious and community leaders and other resource persons to disseminate the correct information about COVID-19 to the community. This she said accelerated the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the three states of focus.

According to her, Pathfinder International implemented the project in collaboration with Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA), Vaccine Network for Disease Control (VNDC), and Sapphital Learning Limited.