By Iyemah David
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), said it is guided by principles of safety, efficacy, transparency and accountability in the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign in the country.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, gave the assurance on Monday in Abuja.
Ehanire spoke at the launch of the SCALES 3.0 strategy for COVID-19 vaccination in the country organised by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
The SCALES is an acronym for Service-delivery, Communication, Accountability, Logistics, Electronic reporting, and supportive Supervision for the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination.
It was introduced in November 2021 by the NPHCDA, as a strategy to rapidly increase COVID-19 vaccine coverage. And designed to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines outside the health facility.
Mass vaccination sites were established at all public places such as markets, parks, shopping malls, schools, mosques, and churches.
Although the government said that the strategy has proven to be effective in shoring up COVID-19 vaccination coverage, the proportion of fully vaccinated Nigerians is still low.
This is partly because the country is using two-dose vaccines.
Most Nigerians are reluctant to take their second dose for various reasons including fear of a repeat of the mild side effects they may have experienced with the first dose.
The SCALES strategy is using COVID-19 vaccination structures and resources to improve Routine Immunization (RI) coverage, with improved efficiency and reduced duplication of efforts by health care workers.
This is to ensure that controlling the transmission of COVID-19 does not become a fertile ground for the outbreak of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases.
It became imperative for the government to launch the SCALES 2.0 Strategy.
It entails the integration of COVID-19 vaccination with childhood routine Immunisation for eligible adults and children, leveraging mass vaccination campaigns, routine immunisation fixed sessions, outreach services and Mobile services.
The SCALES 2.0 was aimed at providing an opportunity for the single dose COVID-19 vaccine to be rolled out in the states.
The SCALES 3.0 strategy is an intensive campaign focused on ramping up uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, childhood vaccines and other primary health care services at public and private health facilities.
According to Ehanire, no vaccine will be allowed to enter any vaccination site without due authentication and safety verification.
He said that the government would never compromise on vaccine safety and vaccination standards.
“Let me assure all Nigerians that the Federal Government remains committed to the provision of safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines in the country backed with accountability and transparency.
“Every COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria is tracked by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to ensure quality and potency across the supply chain,” he said.
The minister said that the campaign can only succeed if there was mass mobilisation of Nigerians.
He, therefore, called on state governors, local governments chairmen, traditional and religious leaders, the media, and every Nigerian to lend their support in mobilising the unvaccinated eligible individuals.
The minister added that there was need for the team to refine the current SCALES 2.0 strategy to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination.
He advised them to identify enablers that were unique to each state and deploy them as state-specific strategies to be termed, “SCALES 3.0.
“The strategy will be anchored on an intensive three months campaign,” he said.
Ehanire said that the strategy was poised to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus and gain the desired herd immunity as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said all of the COVID-19 vaccines administered in the country were safe.
Shuaib said that 25 million eligible Nigerians had received their full doses and 40 million had received at least a single dose.
According to him,” that is enough evidence of the safety of the vaccine.”
Shuaib urged Nigerians to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying,” it is the best way to avoid severe infection and the risk of spreading to others.”
Health Reporters learnt that more than 12.4 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered worldwide, a gain of 100 million, with the world’s population of 7.9 billion, according to Bloomberg tracking.
