Uzodimma flags-off COVID-19 community mass vaccination in Imo

…Appeals to citizens to submit themselves for vaccination

Governor Hope Uzodimma has flagged-off the Covid-19 Community Mass Vaccination in Imo State with an appeal to the people to ignore all conspiracy theories concerning Covid-19 vaccination and submit themselves for the life-saving exercise.

Speaking during the flag-off ceremony at Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu’s Square, Owerri on Thursday,  February 17, 2022, the Governor particularly thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his pragmatic approach to the fight against the pandemic by way of putting measures in place such as the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 and the National Centre for the Disease Control (NCDC), all of which were deployed to fight the pandemic.

The Governor said that the government has done its best to slow down the rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus in Imo State and that he was not prepared to relent in his efforts to ensure that the people’s lives are saved.

He said his government established the Imo State Task Force on Covid-19, made massive investments in the best Isolation Centres in the country, bought state of the art Ambulances and other protective equipment and critical medics that helped in making Imo record the lowest cases of the virus both in Nigeria and in the South East.

‘’Covid-19 tested the capability and capacity of the Shared Prosperity Government in Imo State but thanks to God and my team, as well as the health workers that worked assiduously to fight the pandemic that made Imo record the least number of deaths.”

Governor Uzodimma described the Community Mass Vaccination Campaign as a formal flag-off “because already Imo State has started the vaccination,” and acknowledged the role of Imo State Ministry of Health and Ministry of Information and Strategy for making the people aware of the need for the vaccination. 

He said the flag-off became necessary “because of the signals that Imo State is lagging behind in the scale of States with particular number of vaccinated citizens.”

His words: “To achieve greater number of people being vaccinated there is obvious need to go beyond allowing the vaccination to be left in the hands of National Primary Healthcare Agency alone.”

The Governor noted that the flag-off also signaled the resolve of his government to “protect the Imo citizens against all diseases, viruses and pandemics both now and in the future as the vaccination from this day will be taken to the masses at the Community level.”

“The services of health workers are most needed now than ever as the vaccination moves to the Communities with a larger percentage of the population,” he said adding that to encourage them, his administration will “provide all they need to succeed in the onerous task.”

Governor Uzodimma urged Imo people to make themselves available for the vaccination, emphasizing that refusal to get vaccinated may result to such dire consequences such as: people being restricted from entering and getting government attention, Government workers being forced to show their vaccination cards before they are allowed into their offices, among others.

He told the audience that himself, the wife, his Deputy and the wife, his Cabinet members and all political appointees working with him had taken the vaccination and till date, there is no single negative report from taking it and therefore urged Imo people submit themselves for the vaccination which is also free.

He reiterated that Imo State currently has enough stock of the various Covid-19 vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – for the vaccination and that “Imo citizens can be vaccinated in all the Health Centres in the 27 Local Government Headquarters of the State.”

Governor Uzodimma singled out and commended the United States Embassy for the particular interest it showed in Imo State by providing technical man power and training that helped to ensure the success of the flag-off of the campaign and urged all Government Agencies, local government Chairmen and health workers to encourage all Imo citizens to come out and be vaccinated.

In his welcome address,  the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Prosper Success Ohayagha said that in an effort to carry out a successful community Mass Vaccination, his Ministry in collaboration with support groups, has trained a critical mass of manpower as well as Volunteers in various pillars of response at both the State and Local government levels.

He noted that the Community Mass Vaccination supersedes the earlier strategies deployed in achieving Covid-19 pandemic control, re-emphasizing that “the vaccines are safe and effective.”

In their various goodwill messages via Zoom, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard and the Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, Abuja, Nigeria, Kathleen FitzGibbon commended Governor Uzodimma for his rare leadership traits and commitment to the wellbeing of Imo people through different initiatives in the health sector.

The Executive Secretary/ CEO of Caritas Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina as well as representatives of the Nigeria Inter Faith Action Association, the World Health Organization, the UNICEF and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, all thanked Governor Uzodimma for the political will to flag-off the campaign and urged Imo people to take advantage of the exercise to go get vaccinated.

More importantly, they applauded the Governor for providing the enabling environment,  the human and material resources that would guarantee the success of the programme and scale up  the rating of Imo State on the scale of vaccinated Nigerians.