BY Samuel Akpan
Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 437 cases of COVID vaccine. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday.
UNICEF: Conspiracy theories making COVID vaccination difficult in Nigeria
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) says conspiracy theories on the COVID-19 vaccines is a serious challenge against the vaccination effort in the country.
Olufemi Adeyemi, UNICEF health specialist, spoke at a media dialogue on Wednesday in Enugu.
The event was organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB), ministry of information and culture, in collaboration with UNICEF.
“Considerable progress is being made by the Federal Government, UNICEF, and other development agencies to ensure the spread of COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control through the importation of vaccines and accessibility to vaccines,” Adeyemi said.
“We, however, face serious challenges in the areas of public hesitancy, unwillingness, and conspiracies against the COVID-19 vaccines, making efforts of government, partners, and donors unreciprocated.
“Early in 2020, Nigeria recorded its index cases of the COVID-19 virus like the experience by other parts of the world which is being ravaged and depleting the world’s major population by the hour and day.”
Tomori, Nigerian professor, named member of WHO COVID technical advisory group
The WHO announced the appointment in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Tomori was a former vice-chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun state.
The WHO said the technical advisory group would periodically assess the impact of the variants of concerns on vaccines.
Poland donates over 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Egypt
Poland says it has shipped over 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Egypt.
The Polish foreign ministry disclosed this on Wednesday.
“More than 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines are on their way from Warsaw to Cairo. The donation of vaccines to Egypt is an expression of solidarity with an important partner of Poland in North Africa,” the ministry said.
Poland had previously donated COVID vaccine doses to countries including Australia, Spain and Norway.
Nigeria records 437 COVID cases
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 437 COVID-19 cases across 17 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) on Wednesday.
This is the highest single-day count since the start of the week. Lagos state recorded 126 infections — representing 28.83 percent of the latest figure.
Other states that reported new cases are Rivers (76), Kwara (44), FCT (37), Edo (32), Kaduna (30), Anambra (22), Delta (22), Osun (12), Benue (7), Abia (6), Nasarawa (6), Kano (5), Ekiti (3), Plateau (3), Bayelsa (2), Ogun (2), and Oyo (2).
The agency said the 126 cases reported from Lagos are for September 28 (94 infections) and 29 (32 infections).
Twenty-two cases reported from Anambra are for September 28 (12 infections) and 29 (10 infections).
The NCDC said: “12 rather than 6 recoveries were erroneously reported for Jigawa on September 24.”
Despite the jump recorded on Wednesday, 222 recoveries were reported.
The agency’s data showed that six persons died of the infection.
Nigeria now has a total number of 205,484 confirmed COVID-19 cases; 193,482 recoveries; and 2,701 deaths across the 36 states and the FCT.
PAHO: We’re buying more COVID vaccines for the Americas
The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) says it is working to procure pushing more COVID vaccines for residents of the Americas.
PAHO said on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac to buy 8.5 million vaccine doses for 2021 and another 80 million doses in 2022.
“Our Revolving Fund is in advanced discussions with vaccine manufacturers to buy additional COVID vaccines on behalf of all member states to complement bilateral deals, donations and doses that they are receiving via the COVAX mechanism,” Carissa Etienne, PAHO director, said.
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