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Oyo to engage producers of Covid-19 vaccine, says FG allocation inadequate
Oyo governor, Seyi Makinde, Wednesday, said it will engage manufacturers of Astra-Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine as the 1,848 doses of Covid-19 allocated by the Federal government to the state are “grossly inadequate.”
Nigeria is expected to receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at the end of January.
Mr Makinde said this while addressing journalists noting that the state will engage manufacturers of Astra-Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine, “when finally certified fit for human consumption” to supply Oyo the vaccine.
According to him, the Astra-Zeneca vaccine “has been said to be more suitable for the state because of its storage instructions.”
“On the issue of vaccines, the Federal Government, from what we read, has allocated 1,800 vaccines for Oyo State. First, in Oyo State, we don’t have a facility to store at minus 70 centigrade. Again, this number is grossly inadequate. If you want to vaccinate 100,000 people out of a population of almost 200 million, it is not going to make any dent,” Makinde said.
“And Oyo State, which is a population of between 7-12million, 1,800 vaccines are not going to go anywhere. So, we are exploring other means of getting these vaccines to our people.
Read also: Oyo warns private hospitals against treating COVID-19 patients
“I have been advised by the experts that the Astra-Zeneca Vaccine is more suitable for Oyo State due to storage instructions. So, we are opening discussions directly with the manufacturer so that we can get as many as possible for our people once it is certified…what I will say to everyone is, you have to own your action. I have to own mine action too.”
Makinde added that the state is not experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 “as the curve was never flattened”.
“With recent happenings and talks on the second wave of Covid-19, it becomes necessary that I address you. Let me start by talking about the issue of this supposed second wave. I have always said that all our responses to covid-19 in Oyo State will be guided by data, science and logic,” he said.
“So, as far as Oyo State is concerned, the data we have is not pointing to a second wave as the curve was never flattened.”
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