The Lagos State Government has expressed displeasure over the low level of COVID-19 vaccination in the country even as it predicts a possible fourth wave of COVID-19 infection in the country.
The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who disclosed this at the weekend, identified the volume of inbound passengers coming into the country for Christmas and New Year festivities as a possible reason for the fourth wave.
He noted that the state government was implementing strategies to prevent and mitigate a possible fourth wave of COVID-19 infection.
“Our four-pronged strategies, include vaccination strategy, testing strategy, management of inbound passengers of interest into the country and managing social events during the festive season to prevent and mitigate a potential fourth wave”, Abayomi said.
“We are ramping up the percentage of residents of Lagos vaccinated against COVID-19 from 1.6 % to 30% within one year. We are also improving our testing capacity and adding day two and day seven tests for passengers of interest from all countries.
“We are also rejigging enforcement of COVID-19 laws and guidelines and sanctioning defaulters through the Lagos State special offences mobile court. We are also poised to control the size of events, ensure those attending events are vaccinated, and enforce adherence to other COVID-19 protocols”.
The Commissioner disclosed that Lagos currently has 2.67% of its population vaccinated with two doses of the COVID vaccines adding that the State hoped to administer eight million doses of COVID vaccines to four million people by the 25th of December this year.
Abayomi noted that the state government as part of its vaccination campaign mandate and approach is partnering with the private sector to rapidly ramp up COVID19 vaccination stressing that the areas of collaboration include leveraging on the private sector resources on administration, logistics, distribution, pharmacovigilance, and technology.
Meanwhile, the state government has suspended all activities earlier announced for the “Greater Lagos Fiesta” 2021 edition.
The state Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said the decision to suspend the fiesta became imperative following sound advisory from health authorities in respect of the mammoth crowd expected at some of the gatherings as well as the dangers associated with attendance by members of the Diaspora community, who may be returning from Europe and other parts of the world now experiencing the fourth wave.
Vanguard News Nigeria
