The Federal Government says it is set to adopt “the whole family” approach in the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination nationwide.
It assured the public that all COVID-19 vaccine brands have the same safety and efficacy.
“The whole family” approach is designed to integrate the ongoing vaccination into other basic Primary Health Care (PHC) services
The exercise, according to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, will cover PHC services like childhood vaccination, screening for hypertension, diabetes, and malnutrition.
Shuaib told reporters at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, that the agency was concerned about the total health of individuals and their entire family.
He said: “We are adopting ‘the whole family approach’ to integrate the COVID-19 vaccination with other basic PHC services such as childhood vaccination, screening for hypertension, diabetes, malnutrition.
“We will give residents another opportunity to listen to NPHCDA, State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA), and state ministries of Health (SMoH) on how they can improve on personal hygiene, water and environmental sanitation.
”This is particularly important in view of the large number of cases of cholera that we are recording across the country.”
Shuaib added that as of August 10, 2021, Nigeria had received 4,000,080 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the United States.
He said: “We are aware that Nigerians would want to know if there is a preferred brand. Let me assure everyone that COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of brand, as long as they have been approved by NAFDAC, provide adequate protection against the disease.
“We want to further assure Nigerians that we have strategised with our partners so that there is no confusion on which vaccines will be given to whom.
“For example, all those who have taken their first dose of AstraZeneca vaccines and are due for their second dose would be given their second dose in this month of August as we are expecting up to 588,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility.”
“In all communications, we have been clear that the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines are very effective against the Delta variant as cases are beginning to increase in states like Lagos and Akwa Ibom states.
“We want to call on all Nigerians to remain assured that the vaccines that we have are safe and will be deployed next week as earlier communicated.”
