As Lagos State records no fewer than 30 deaths since the COVID-19 third wave hit Nigeria last month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has cautioned residents to avoid taking the Moderna vaccine, if they have already taken the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He made this known, yesterday, while briefing reporters on the COVID-19 situation report at the State House in Alausa.
According to him, the state has recorded about six deaths daily in the last week.
He tasked residents to sit up and observe all COVID-19 protocols while event centres and religious groups should ensure compliance from all those coming into their facilities.
Providing the update, Sanwo-Olu said: “From the beginning of the outbreak in February 2020 to date, Lagos State has recorded a total of 64,032 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 56,336 have recovered in the community, 2,755 are currently being managed actively in the community.
“Over the course of managing the pandemic, about 5,029 patients have been admitted into our various COVID-19 care centres in Lagos. We have, sadly, recorded 390 fatalities in Lagos, 30 of which have taken place in this current third wave of the pandemic. Essentially, we have recorded on average six deaths per day since last week.
“As of August 1, 2021, the positivity rate in Lagos is 8.9 per cent. This is an eight-fold increase over the recorded figure a month ago, and it should rightly alarm all of us. This has resulted in 4,300 confirmed cases in July alone and 352 admissions into our isolation facilities.
“But let me make it clear that this necessary sense of alarm should not be responded to with panic, but instead with a firm resolve and determination to reverse the trend. We have done it before and we can do it again. We dealt with the first and second waves and did our best to prevent a third wave. Now that it is fully upon us, we must dig deep into what we have learnt from the previous waves, as well as summon the will to do everything necessary to bring down the numbers, on the way to eventually defeating the virus once and for all.”
The Governor explained that experts have warned that the Astrazeneca and Moderna vaccines cannot be mixed, and so, those waiting for their second jab should exercise patience as the second batch of Astrazeneca vaccine is expected this August.
“As of today, the percentage of Lagos residents that have received two doses of the vaccine stands at one per cent. This is quite low, considering that we are now confronted by a third wave, and we are exploring all avenues possible to ramp up access to vaccination so as to reach our herd immunity target of administering vaccines to at least 60 per cent of the population of Lagos.
“Experience from other regions of the world shows that majority of the confirmed cases that have resulted in death were in unvaccinated persons. This is why we are seriously looking to scale up vaccination coverage for our people. On Sunday, Nigeria received four million doses of the Moderna vaccine. It is our expectation that as the epicentre of the epidemic, Lagos will receive a sizeable amount of this allocation.
“This vaccine cannot be mixed with the AstraZeneca vaccine, so it will only be for people that have not been previously vaccinated.”
AMID the industrial action embarked upon by the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) yesterday, the Federal Government, yesterday, announced that all data indicate that Nigeria is now in the third wave resurgence of the SARS-COV-2 infection.
