By Chimezie Godfrey
The Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello has been urged to stop the issue of requesting citizens to pay money for vaccination in the state.
The Governor was also encouraged to provide data and other form of supports to vaccine administrators in Kogi.
The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) made the appeal through a statement signed by its Coordinator for Public Education on COVID-19 Vaccine Project, Hamza Ibrahim and made available to Newsdiaryonline.
CITAD with support from MacArthur Foundation is implementing a “Public Education on COVID-19 Vaccine” in six states of the north.
The states are Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kogi, Kano and Plateau, adding that the project is aimed at creating awareness around COVID-19 vaccine with a view to getting acceptance and uptake of the vaccine by people.
Ibrahim revealed that they have identified some of the key hindrances to COVID-19 vaccination exercise in six states of the project implementation.
He explained that in all the six states CITAD works with partners from different backgrounds and professions to enlighten people on the need to take the vaccine.
Ibrahim noted that they have identified both general and specific issues that are hindering uptake of the vaccine thereby further risking the efforts at addressing the pandemic.
He also said that misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine is still prevalent, adding that state governments are in some way aiding non acceptance of the vaccine by not fully supporting the vaccination exercise where people who want to be vaccinated are required by the vaccination officials to make payments for their details to be captured and uploaded online on the national register, this “we particularly found happening in Kogi state”.
The Coordinator lamented that the issue of requesting people to make payments to be vaccinated will not only hamper the vaccination exercise but will make people to stay away from taking the vaccine, and this potentially renders more people insecure.
According to him, observation also discovered a serious lack of coordination in the vaccine distribution by agencies responsible within the healthcare chain. While in Borno state people going for second doses for Astrazeneca and Moderna were told the vaccines are not available, in Plateau state 45,288 doses of Pfizer had to be recalled after distribution to local communities for nearing expiration.
Ibrahim noted that identified challenges include vaccine administrators demand data payment from people who want to get vaccinated to upload their details on the online national register, lack of will from top government officials-that further reinforces negative impression people have on the vaccine, and lack of proper coordination in vaccine administration and distribution.
Others are absence of vaccination spots at gathering places such as Mosques, churches, banks, vaccination spots mounted at distant locations, lack of support of opinion leaders, fear of expired vaccines in use and inaccessibility of the vaccines in rural communities, among many others.
Ibrahim therefore disclosed that in the light of the foregoing, CITAD appeals to the Kogi state Governor to put a stop to payment for vaccination currently going on in the state, among other recommendations.
He said,”Having identified series of avoidable challenges and problems, we would like to strongly recommend that the following actions be taken to salvage the vaccination exercise:
“We appeal to Kogi state governor to immediately put a stop to “pay to get vaccinated” by providing data and other form of supports vaccine administrators in the state.
“Call on the state governors concerned to as a matter of urgency work to address the problems we have identified.
“They should as examine the vaccination channel in their separate states to have a broader view of the identified problems and other and deploy the needed mechanisms.”
Ibrahim urged the public to disregard misconceptions and false narratives around COVID-19 and to get vaccinated.
He appealed to State Primary Healthcare Development Agencies in the six states to review their operation manual to ensure proper coordination for effective vaccination exercise.
