Lagos denies compromising FG’s COVID-19 vaccine protocols

The Lagos Government has denied compromising the vaccination protocols rolled out by the Federal Government and the racketeering claims at Falomo vaccine centre.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso and the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Ibrahim Mustapha denied the claim when they paid an unscheduled visit to the Falomo centre located inside a police station and the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba for first hand assessment of the ongoing vaccination exercise to
verify the allegations of malpractices at the Falomo centre.

“This is the Falomo Police medical facility, which has been in the press recently. This is an unscheduled visit and they did not know we were coming. We do this all the time; we pay unscheduled visits to our facilities without informing the management in order to find out firsthand and in real-time how things are in the facilities,” he said.

“The Commissioner of Police in charge of this facility is not aware we are coming and this is deliberate in order for us to find out if there is any truth in the allegations that have been made against the centre, although we have done our investigation”.

Abayomi also debunked the allegation of vaccine sales at any of the 88 vaccination sites, stating that the allegation at the Ikate vaccination site is “untrue and baseless”.

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He explained that every unit administered on citizens are accounted for at every stage of the process and that it would be difficult for vaccines to be sold without being detected.

“This why vaccinators are mandated to return every unit vaccine vial after use to us for proper audit; we then destroy the vial ourselves after a proper audit has been taken and every vial accounted for”, he said.

“The state government, in keeping with its excellent antecedent, is working hard to ensure a successful vaccination exercise and we can only do this with the support and cooperation of our citizens and stakeholders.”.

Responding to the allegations, the Commissioner of Police in Charge of the Hospital, Mr Kayode Egbetokun who refuted the allegations as “baseless” challenged anyone with evidence of malpractices to come forward with it.

“The Lagos State Government has stated clearly the categories of people that are qualified for vaccination in the first phase of the exercise. Before you can come into this facility, you must qualify for the vaccination and if you see the notice at the entrance of our facility, there is a notice listing the categories of people to be vaccinated and these are the groups of people we grant admission here.

“Anybody can make allegations, but anybody making allegations of thugs at our gate should come and substantiate the allegation. We at Falomo have continued to insist on strict adherence to the guidelines given by the state government.

“Nobody can collect money here; the allegation is baseless. Anybody who is alleging that somebody is collecting money should come forward with evidence”.

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