COVID-19 Vaccination: Nasarawa, Jigawa, Ogun top NPHCDA performance ranking

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA) on Wednesday released its COVID-19 vaccination campaign statistics on the most and least vaccinated states in the country.

According to the health agency’s latest update, Nasarawa made the most of the vaccination efforts with 31.63% of the state’s population receiving the COVID-19 jabs.

Jigawa came in second with an inoculation percentage of 29.03 while Ogun State emerged as the most vaccinated state in the southwest with 17.24 %.

Similarly, governors Abdullahi Sule, Badaru Abubakar, and Dapo Abiodun were rated amongst the most performing governors by the agency.

However, the commercial capital of the Federation, Lagos, emerged as the 12th most vaccinated state with 7.66% of its over 23 million inhabitants taking the COVID-19 Jabs, while (F.C.T) had a 4.26% vaccination rate.

Imo, Akwa-Ibom, and Bayelsa states were least on the rankings having vaccinated 1.08%, 0.92%, and 0.69% respectively.

The agency noted that Borno and Kano were the current rising stars having climbed the rankings by 5 and 10 steps respectively in the last seven days.

The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, had in previous weeks confirmed Nigeria entering a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, while urging Nigerians to adhere to approved protocols to combat the disease.

“Nigeria has recorded a 500% increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks across the country caused by the Delta and Omicron variants,” the NCDC boss added.

“As of 19th December 2021, a total of 223,887 cases and 2985 deaths have been recorded in Nigeria across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The country is now in a fourth COVID-19 wave. The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, the Federal Ministry of Health, as well as NCDC and its partners, are therefore intensifying risk communication efforts to remind Nigerians of the risk we face and need to take collective responsibility to reduce transmission of the virus,” the agency said.

According to him, the agency is launching a ‘Celebrate Responsibly’ campaign as part of efforts to fight the disease this Yuletide.

President Muhammadu Buhari last week Tuesday received a COVID-19 booster shot at the State House in Abuja.

The Federal Government had commenced the administration of booster shots earlier this month as steps to halt the spread of Omicron, a relatively new variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Persons eligible for the booster dose must be 18 years and above, fully vaccinated with either two doses of AstraZeneca, Moderna, or Pfizer Bio-N-Tech or a single dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The time interval before the booster dose is at least six months for these vaccines, except the Johnson and Johnson which is at least two months.

(Channels)