The Gombe State government on Tuesday engaged stakeholders at a meeting in Gombe to boost COVID-19 vaccination in the state.
Dr Manassah Jatau, the state’s deputy governor, expressed dissatisfaction with the response on COVID-19 vaccination, saying the meeting was convened to gather inputs from participants on how to improve the rate of vaccination.
He stated that the exercise so far carried out in the state had not been encouraging and “the task of vaccinating people in the state is one that must be done.”
The deputy governor stated that the task was a collective one, hence, the reason for extending an invitation to traditional rulers to help deepen vaccination at the grassroots.
On his part, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr Julius Lepes, blamed the low rate of vaccination on fake news and the series of myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccination.
Lepes, however, advocated massive sensitisation to help change the narrative by informing the people on the importance of vaccination, while assuring citizens that the vaccines were safe.
Briefing participants on the status of COVID-19 vaccination in Gombe, Malam Musa Kuna, Project Manager, State Emergency Routine Immunisation Coordination Centre (SERICC), said the state had not done well with vaccination.
Kuna stated that the vaccines were available for anyone who wanted to get vaccinated.
According to him, the total eligible population targeted for vaccination is 1, 940, 630 which is expected to be achieved by March 31.
He stated that 228, 277 persons in the state had been vaccinated with the first dose, while 119, 699 had so far been vaccinated with the second dose.
He added that only 15, 945 had so far been vaccinated with the booster dose.
According to him, the number of persons so far vaccinated represented 12 per cent for the first dose and six per cent for the second dose.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a question and answer session was conducted to get suggestions on how to boost vaccination across the state.
Officials from the state’s ministry of health, Primary Health Care Development Agency, Centre for Integrated Health Programmes (CIHP), Local Government chairmen and Emirs were present at the meeting.
