Hundreds of civil servants lined up on Wednesday to get a COVID-19 vaccine to meet up with the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) deadline.
Security operatives at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, on Wednesday, ensured that civil servants without proof of vaccination or negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), test, were barred from accessing their offices.
It was also observed that some civil servants queued up at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) vaccination centres opposite the Federal ministries of Health and Education to get vaccinated.
Mr Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 had in October announced that civil servants without COVID-19 vaccination certificates would be barred from their offices as from December 1, 2021.
Mustapha had, however, added that civil servants who refuse vaccination would have no choice but to present negative PCR tests every 72 hours.
At the Federal Secretariat on Wednesday morning, it was observed that security operatives took over major entrances and only workers who presented vaccination certificates and negative COVID-19 PCR tests were allowed access.
Meanwhile, some civil servants expressed satisfaction with the exercise, describing it as a welcome development.
Mrs Chizoba Iwu, a civil servant, who brought a son and daughter to get their shots at the Secretariat vaccination spot, one of the three locations, noted that she does not want either of them to catch COVID-19 or to transmit it to anyone else.
“We’ve done our research and it’s safe,” Iwu said.
Iwu said that she had asthma, adding to their worry, and the entire family was eager to return to the busy, active life they had before the pandemic.
“We want to travel for this Christmas and we have missed our grand parents and having the vaccine will help us to see them,” she said.
Mr Adamu Yusuf, also a civil servant, brought his daughter, his wife and in-law, to get their shots and said that “what will not kill them would make them stronger”.
According to him, “the way the World is going, we’re going to be better off to have our vaccine than not, regardless of whether or not they think it’s effective”.
Ms Yemisi Makinde, a business lady as she described herself, registered her mother and brother to get their first shot.
“My kid sister and I were fully vaccinated back in June. Right as soon as we were eligible to get it, we did,” she said.
“We did it out of concern for our mother since our daddy is no more, we need to keep her safe,” she noted.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Wednesday morning, confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in the country.
The emergence of the new variants the world’s desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months.
The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines.
Some health experts said that the hoarding of limited COVID-19 shots by rich countries creating virtual Vaccines deserts in many poorer ones does not just mean risk for the parts of the world seeing shortages; it threatens the entire globe.
That’s because the more the disease spreads among unvaccinated populations, the more possibilities it has to mutate and potentially become more dangerous, prolonging the pandemic for everyone.
Meanwhile, the PSC chairman noted that there were enough vaccines in the country to go round at the moment, while urging Nigerians to take the opportunity to get vaccinated.
