Compulsory COVID-19 vaccine will safeguard rights to life – HURIWA backs FG

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA has backed the Federal Government on the decision to make it mandatory for all public service workers to take the double jabs of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Recall that the Federal Government had declared that civil servants who are yet to get vaccinated against the dreaded virus, may be denied access to offices beginning from December 1.

But contrary to the insinuation that compelling citizens to take the vaccines will violate the rights of Nigerians, HURIWA said the acceptance of the vaccination against the dreaded disease is the surest way to preserve, promote and advance the Right to life which is the according to the group, a primary human rights provision.

“Section 33 (1) stated thus: (1) Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.

“We commend President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for ensuring that citizens are mobilized and enlightened to take the life-saving vaccine against COVID- 19″, HURIWA said in a statement on Friday.

The rights group also observed that the federal government may have failed to use the prospects and possibilities to rebuild Nigeria’s collapsed public healthcare which the Covid-19 Pandemic and the nearly a year lockdown provided.

“Whilst we are happy that the federal government is tasking workers to go for double jabs of Covid-19 Vaccines, we demand from the central government a public disclosure of what the government did with the credit facilities provided by the international mortuary fund to boost public health care industry in Nigeria. The Central government has abysmally failed to even support local production of Covid-19 vaccines just as primary healthcare centres across the country have collapsed”, the group added.

HURIWA said the refusal by anyone to take the vaccines is tantamount to exposing the lives of millions of Nigerians to danger which it said is avoidable.

The rights group asked the federal government to disseminate to Nigerians information on the exact venues they can go and get the COVID-19 vaccines.