By Tochi Onyeubi
Palpable tension has gripped residents of Imo State as reports went round that the vaccines for Covid 19 have landed.
Trumpeta learnt that Imo state has taken delivery of about Seventy Thousand doses of the Oxford- AstraZeneca Covid- 19 vaccines, distributed across states of the federation.
This was made known on by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Damaris Osunkwo before pressmen at the Sam Mbakwe Airport on Wednesday.
Recall that, the Executive Director of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) Faisal Shuaib had on Monday stated the readiness of the Nigeria government to start distributing the vaccines to various states across the country.
He had explained that, the delivery of the vaccines to the states is predicated on satisfactory meeting the conditions to keep them safe and potent.
“We are designating Vaccine Accountability Officers in the states and LGAs to closely monitor the management and utilization of the Vaccines.”
He said state launch of the COVID-19 vaccination for health workers is slated for March 9 at the state treatment centres, barring any prevailing local conditions.
“Most governors have agreed to flag off on March 10 while the statewide rollout of COVID-19 vaccine will commence from the 12 of March,” he said
States like Lagos, Kaduna, Calabar, Maiduguri, Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Ondo, have reported to have received doses of the vaccines in their respective states.
Imo official flag off commences today at the Primary Health Care Development Agency by 11am.
It is also expected that, Health workers, Security officers, Petrol attendants will be among the first to be attended to, after proper registration online.
Those who cannot register online through the link, https://nphcdaict.com.ng/publicreg, was asked to go the local government where the Monitoring and Evaluation officers will get them registered.
But moments after the news went round about the arrival, panic gripped several persons in the state about the development prompting mixed reactions from the public.
Tales of unconfirmed stories trailing the vaccine have put fears in the minds of the public.
