Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, has allayed fears of COVID-19 vaccine shortage in Nigeria.
Speaking at a roundtable with select editors at the NCDC headquarters in Abuja, Adetifa said that it was important to make this clarification so that people will come out for the COVID-19 vaccines across the country. He insisted Nigeria has enough vaccines.
The vaccines are available, he argued, saying there is, however, a shortage of people coming forward to take the vaccines.Equally, he acknowledged that there has been a massive campaign to ensure many more Nigerians turn out to be vaccinated.
Dr Adetifa assured that the vaccines work;they are available and they are safe.
He also said the travel restrictions being imposed by countries because of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 were not based on science.The responses so far are simply driven by fear of the unknown, he said.
Furthermore, the DG assured Nigerians that the NCDC portal is currently up and running now, adding that efforts have been made to enhance the site’s capacity.
As Yuletide approaches, the DG appealed to Nigerians to continue to avoid crowded areas. He urged people to use their masks properly.There is the need to be vigilant, he said as he urged people to report what they find with regards to diseases through the appropriate channels.
NIgeria has recorded 214, 270 COVID-19 cases out of the 3,580,510 tests so far.
