Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that it would take
three years for Lagos State to achieve the desired COVID-19 immunity among
residents unless the speed of vaccination increased.
He said this in a statement on Monday, where he also
detailed how the State Government had expanded access to vaccines since the
vaccination programme began in March and the State’s projection to protect its
residents and environment.
The Governor spoke at the 2021 Global Citizen Live Concert
held at Fela’s Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, according to the statement.
Audiences in 11 cities across the world, including Paris, Seoul, London, Sidney, New York and Los Angeles, were said to witness the live event held in honour of frontline and essential workers in the battle against the global pandemic.
A-list Nigerian musical artistes that performed live during
the international concert included Femi Kuti, Davido, Tiwa Savage and Made
Kuti, among others.
As the epicentre of the pandemic outbreak, Sanwo-Olu said
Lagos had pursued a radical vaccination programme, which led to the administration
of 16,000 jabs of vaccines daily.
This, the Governor said, is a far cry from what was
projected in achieving herd immunity.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that 405,000 residents had received
first doses of AstraZeneca, while 289,000 persons returned for their second
doses. The State, he said, administered 230,000 first shots of Moderna to raise
the vaccinated population to about 1.2 per cent within five months.
He said: “Our vaccination rate is far below the minimum
target of 60 per cent recommended by the World Health Organisation (W.H.O) per
city population. At the current rate, it would take about three years to
achieve our herd immunity target. We cannot continue at this speed if we
seriously want to beat this virus.
“To safely achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, a
substantial proportion of our population would need to be vaccinated to lower
the overall amount of virus able to spread in the whole population. One of the
objectives of attaining herd immunity is to prevent mutations from emerging
leading to more aggressive strains. It is important that Lagos achieves herd
immunity at the same time with all countries together.”
The Governor urged Nigerians to continue to be law-abiding
and comply with the travel guidelines stipulated by the Presidential Steering
Committee to prevent the importation of new variants.
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