Zamfara govt to sanction LGs lagging in COVID-19 vaccine uptake – Matawalle

Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara has tasked local government authorities to improve on the current COVID-19 performance or face sanction.

Matawalle gave the warning while inaugurating the Scale 3.0 to Accelerate COVID-19 Vaccination on Friday in Gusau.

“Today’s coverage should be considered our baseline, and by the next 10 to 11 weeks, we shall be able to review our performance in local government areas.

“The first three best-performing Local Government Areas will receive an award of excellence.

“Similarly, the least performing Local Government Areas would be required to explain the reason for falling short of expectations,” he said.

The development followed a data of 44 per cent COVID-19 vaccine performance recorded across the 14 LGAs under the 2.0 Strategy campaign provided by the State Primary Health Care Development Board.

The governor said the Scale 3.0 Strategy aimed at increasing vaccination uptake for children and COVID-19 among people of the state.

According to him, the strategy is designed to expand public access to COVID-19 vaccine beyond conventional health facilities.

Matawalle explained that the exercise would further reduce the spread of the virus by boosting immunity response.

This, he said was part of his administration’s efforts to put in place measures and strategies to protect the populace from infectious diseases.

“You may recall the proactive measures we took immediately when COVID-19 was announced as a global health emergency.

“One of these measures was the construction of the Infectious Disease Centre, Damba at a total cost of N1,288,414,343.89.

“The center is equipped to adequately respond to not just COVID-19 but also other infectious diseases,” he said.

He said the effort yielded positive results with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency ranking Zamfara among the high-performing states in terms of COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The governor, however, reminded people of the state that taking the COVID-19 vaccine was both acts of self-protection and civic duty.

He said every citizen of the state had a critical role to play in stopping the spread of the virus.

“Therefore, I urge you to take the vaccine and ensure that every eligible person around you is vaccinated,” the governor said.

While commending members of the National and State Assemblies, government officials, community and religious leaders, organisations, youth and women groups, Matawalle urged them to continue to support government vaccination drive.

He expressed the hope that the state would be ranked first in the next round of assessment of COVID-19 vaccine to be conducted in October 2022.

The governor further thanked royal fathers, government officials, development partners, political and religious leaders for supporting policies and programmes to provide the required quality healthcare services to the people of the state.

Also, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Aliyu Abubakar described the Scale 3.0 Strategy as an evidence-base aimed addressing the challenges identified in the 2.0 Scale.

He said so far, 44 per cent of eligible population had taken at least one dose of the vaccine in the state.

The commissioner said that 18 per cent of the population had been fully vaccinated while 26 per cent had taken at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The figures showed that 56 per cent of the eligible population had yet to be vaccinated.

Abubakar, however, commended the royal fathers and religious leaders for supporting the 2.0 exercise.

He also lauded Gov. Matawalle for providing the needed support for the success of the 2.0 exercise.

The commissioner expressed his ministry’s commitment to ensuring the 3.0 Strategy recorded success across the 14 LGAs of the state.