Ignore negative perception about COVID-19 vaccine – Attah Igala urges Nigerians

The Attah Igala HRM Mathew Opaluwa has charged Nigerians to take the COVID-19 vaccine and ignore every negative perception against the vaccine.

Opaluwa, gave the charge on Friday in Idah when a non governmental organization Challenge Parenthood Initiative, (CPI) paid him an advocacy visit.

He agreed that there are many negative information making the rounds about the vaccine but asked the government and other key stakeholders to work hard to change the myths.

The monarch, however, warned that the distribution of the vaccine must not be hijacked by some fraudulent individuals who intend to sabotage government efforts at curtailing the pandemic by administering fake vaccines for Nigerians to consume.

“Let us get the original vaccine and put an end to this deadline pandemic” he said.

The monarch however promised to mobilize his people towards the successful uptake of the vaccine in Igala land.

Earlier in her remarks, the Executive Director of CPI, Eunice Abimbola Agbogun congratulated HRM Mather Opaluwa for his installation as the new Attah of Igala land.

On the advocacy visit on COVID-19 vaccines to the Attahs’ palace, Agbogun noted that their objective is to enhance awareness on the efficacy of the vaccine and mobilize target communities to increase demand and uptake of the vaccines and to build the capacity of stakeholders on emerging issues in the fight against the virus.

Continuing, Agbogun said “In the wake of the emergence of the third wave of the COVID-19, Nigeria has begun to see a pandemic of two tracks – where the Delta variant is tearing through

unvaccinated populations. Despite the support by the COVAX Facility led by WHO and UNICEF who have so far delivered 3.9 million doses to Nigeria, the country has continued to suffer from the gross inequity in global vaccine access”.

“The current COVID-19 case surge across other parts of the country has resulted in the need to encourage citizens of Kogi State to take up responsibilities of adhering to preventive measures aimed at avoiding the spread of the virus from high burden states into Kogi State. Therefore, there is a need for both State and Non State actors to provide the needed interventions to promote the uptake of the vaccines in particular”.