Abia inaugurates centre for COVID-19 vaccine campaign
The Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ASPHDA) has inaugurated a committee for Crisis Communication Centre, to drive the campaign for COVID-19 vaccination in the state.
In a speech at the brief ceremony, the Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Chinagozi Adindu, charged the committee members to take the assignment seriously.
Adindu said the committee was constituted in line with a directive from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA).
He said the centre was initiated to achieve attitudinal reorientation among the citizenry, and to change their negative impression about the vaccination.
He said: “COVID-19 vaccination had suffered a lot of setback because of negative media reports.
“It is hoped that the initiative will help to ensure effective implementation of the vaccination.”
According to Adindu, the initiative will serve as a vehicle, to ensure that Abia is protected from the pandemic.
He said the committee would also be inaugurated at the grassroots level.
Adindu said the duties of the committee would include assisting in collecting reports and documenting all necessary information, misinformation and rumours about the vaccines.
He said the committee’s terms of reference included to promote behavioural change, debunk misinformation and rumours and stimulate the people’s confidence in the vaccines.
In an introductory remark, Mrs Meg Onwu, the Director, Health Education/Head of Department, Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilisation, said the centre would help to track information, misinformation and rumours surrounding the vaccines.
Onwu said the data collected would be synthesised and uploaded to the NPHDA.
He said the NPHDA management would utilise the data to plan and design messages and publicity stunts to debunk the negative rumours.
Contributing, the Director, National Orientation Agency in Abia, Dr Ngozi Okechukwu, admonished the committee members and health workers handling the vaccination, to show personal commitment to the programme to ensure its success.
Okechukwu, who is a member of the committee, expressed concerns over the low level of awareness about the vaccination, especially among rural communities in the state.
She said: “The duty of creating the necessary awareness and persuading the people, especially the rural dwellers, to take the vaccine, goes beyond setting up the committee.”
“The task before the committee is enormous, so there must be high level of personal commitment for the campaign to achieve the set objective.”
A representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Abia, Dr Mgbeahuru Okechukwu, said the committee came up late, hence, must redouble its efforts, if it hoped to change the narrative in the state.
Okechukwu, who is the state Secretary of CAN, blamed the low percentage of vaccinated people in the state on poor awareness creation and apathy amongst the citizenry, due to the rumours around the vaccines.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee comprised representatives of NOA, civil society organisations, religious bodies and the media, represented by NAN, amongst others.
In an interview with NAN, the ASPHDA boss said the state achieved huge success in the first phase of the vaccination.
He said the state ranked first in the South-East and seventh in the country, attributing the feat to the state government’s political will to ensure the exercise succeeded.
Adindu said that Abia had received 51,000 doses of Moderna and 6,000 AstraZeneca vaccines for the second phase, which kicked off on Aug. 25 and billed to last for 20 days.
He said that the agency had so far, recorded 58 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively in the utilisation of the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines. (NAN)
