Nigeria records first serious side effect of Covid-19 vaccines
The Oyo State COVID-19 Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) says one person was reported with serious side effects from COVID-19 vaccination in the state.
“Also, 398 others had mild symptoms such as slight headache and pain at the injection site, while 75,000 people were vaccinated against the infection in the first round of vaccination exercise,” Dr. Taiwo Ladipo, EOC Incident Manager said.
Ladipo made this known on Wednesday in Ibadan at an interactive session with the media on the state’s effort to contain the spread of the virus.
He said that 42, 870 samples had been collected in the state as of June 6, since the index case.
The official said that out of the figures, 6,558 tested positive for COVID-19, while 6,731 people had recovered from the infection and 124 COVID-19 related deaths were recorded in the state.
“The influx of people from countries with a high burden of COVID-19 cases and apathy toward COVID-19 testing is of concern to EOC.
“There is a need for cooperation of individuals in the community in ensuring that suspected cases get tested and treated.
“Even, when we test minimally, we might just have a single case, and it is something that is giving us concern because it shows that we have not mopped it up in our society.
“Unfortunately, most of the testing is incidentally because some people want to travel abroad.
“So, we have more cases coming in from private laboratories that are doing the test for international travels and that tells us that we are still in the woods.
“The situation we are in even portend danger because although we think that there are few cases, we could have some with new variants of COVID-19 causing calamity in other climes,” he said.
The incident manager revealed that the number of people vaccinated in the state was still low and not enough to ensure herd immunity.
He, however, urged everyone to get set to be vaccinated during the next round of COVID-19 vaccination exercise in the state.
In his remarks, Dr. Olusola Oriniowo, the EOC’s Co-lead on Risk Communication and Community Engagement Pillar, said that there was underreporting of cases of side effects of the vaccine in Oyo State.
According to him, individuals are expected to report any symptom they noticed following the vaccine to be able to access correct advice and medical care on how to manage any effect of taking the vaccine.
Also, Mrs. Titilope Akinleye, Oyo State Disease Surveillance, and Notification Officer asked the media to debunk untrue and unverified information on COVID-19.
She called for increased public sensitization on the need to keep to the preventive measures and be tested for COVID-19.
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