Tobias Sylvester
President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha and other prominent Nigerians would receive the COVID-19 vaccine on live television.
Faisal Shuaib, executive director and chief executive officer, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), disclosed this during a media briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, held in Abuja on Thursday.
According to him, the administering the vaccine to the country’s leaders on live TV will form part of efforts to promote awareness that the vaccines are safe.
Shuaib added that frontline health workers would also be given priority on receiving the vaccine when Nigeria receive around 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at the end of January.
“We will like to see a situation where Mr. president, the vice-president, the SGF, critical leaders come and take the vaccine in the full glare of the public to demonstrate that these vaccines are safe. So we have to make provisions for those,” he said.
“Even in developed countries, what we have seen is that apart from the prioritisation of health workers, you have to also identify critical leaders that you don’t want them to be wiped off by the virus. For example, in warfare, if you want to destroy your enemies, you look for specific leaders, captains, the generals; once you decapitate them, then the soldiers will become weak.
“So, as much as possible, you do not want to also leave your leaders vulnerable to COVID-19, it doesn’t mean you want to prioritise politicians; that is not correct. I emphasised during the last briefing that we will prioritise our health workers because they are the ones in direct contact with cases in isolation units.”
KanyiDaily reports that former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, had already received a jab of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
