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FG, governors working on procurement of COVID-19 vaccines – Fayemi

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Fayemi Kayode

The Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, said on Tuesday his colleagues in other states of the federation are working with the Federal Government to ensure the availability of the COVID-19 vaccines available.

Fayemi, who stated this while delivering a lecture titled: “The role of Nigeria’s state governments in recovery: responses to COVID-19 linked challenges,’’ at Chatham House Event in London, said the COVID-19 pandemic had caused significant disruptions to the health and economy of nations, including Nigeria.

He said: “We expect that about 80 million doses of vaccines will be made available in 2021 to cover 40 percent of the population, while another 60 million doses are being planned ahead of 2022.

“Beyond government’s procurement of vaccines, we at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum 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 immunity.

“As we already know, vaccines themselves are not cost-effective, but rather immunisation is.

“To ensure people are immunised, state governments have a role to play in supporting the logistics and ensuring people get the vaccines.’’

READ ALSO: Governors to be administered COVID-19 vaccines on TV – Fayemi

He said the governors had also been enjoined to map out priority persons to receive vaccines amongst other things.

“Plans must also be comprehensive enough to address other areas that could create a logistical nightmare such as storing vaccines, reaching out, and ensuring people come back to receive their second doses.

“We have considerable experience on this, having handled polio vaccination which actually led to the eradication of the wild poliovirus in Nigeria.

“On the economic front, our major priority is to secure livelihoods. National monetary and fiscal policy reforms must align to support improvements in household income,” the Ekiti governor added.

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