Okolo Jonathan okhavhe
The Akoko Edo Local Health Authority (LHA), has flagged off the scale 3.0 strategy for covid-19 vaccination in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area in Edo State.
Declaring the ceremony open, the Head of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) and Acting Chairman, Dr. Innocent Alenoghena reiterated the State Government’s commitment to ensuring that the health and well being of Akoko-Edo people and across the State is top priority.
“Our mission is to move Edo State forward having maintained our number one position on Covid-19 immunization. This is why our collaboration with our health workers is key” Alenoghena said.
The HOLGA appreciated the Director of Primary Health Care (DPHC) and the EDO North Monitor on Covid-19, Dr Iraoya Howiks for the success the LG has recorded fighting the pandemic and other health related matters.
Howiks told the audience to look beyond the SCALES 3.0 and Covid-19 and to redouble their effort and maintain their number one status on Covid in the State.
According to him, “The State is not doing well nationally (Edo ranks 7th in total cases recorded) and there are high expectations because of the way we are putting in effort. We want to move from our current position to be the first ten in the entire country.
“This scale-up is to redouble our stance on covid compliance essentially” he said.
Dr Alenoghena used the crowd of sympathisers that trailed Queen Elizabeth’s abode on account of her demise, stating ‘that nobody wore face mask only because over 70% of the people have taken the vaccine’ a phenomenon he described as ‘herd immunity’, going on to explain that it is a point in the vaccination process when those who are protected outnumber the unprotected, and urged the elderly get vaccinated.
Howiks also told journalists that: “The Local Government has won the Executive Secretary of the Primary Health Care Development Agency prize and the Hon. Commissioner for Health award for Covid-19 2.0”, making it the best performing local government council in Edo State in the fight against the pandemic.
He noted that Scale 3.0 became necessary to reenergize ‘our activities and ensure that the Local Council continues to lead, even as he said ‘the program would end in the next couple of months’.
Dr Iraoya who noted that eligible targets for the exercise are those eighteen years and above, emphasised that elderly people from fifty years and above who have chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension will be the focus on account of their low immunity.
“While Covid-19 is not age and sex specific, you are more susceptible when you hit fifty years and above.
“When you catch a Covid, the likelihood of recovery is very low when unvaccinated and if you have a chronic illness, unlike when you are vaccinated.
“Let me warn that being immunised is not a yardstick that you cannot have the disease but you will only experience it in a mild form without the severe symptoms” he admonished.
He pointed out that clients were being made to submit their covid-19 cards to ascertain those who are qualified for booster doses, adding that all the vaccines are safe, free and effective. “Apart from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which requires a single dose, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca would require multiple doses and even booster doses” he said in conclusion.
Also speaking, the State Supervisor on covid-19, Ms. Odihi Patience, appealed to everyone to disseminate the information to people who were not present, saying the exercise which began on the 22nd of August will last for 90 days.
The event had other local government council chieftains, security personnel, representatives of the Otaru Palace, among others.
