Hon.Commissoner for Information and Strategy Alhaji Waheed Odusile addressing pertticipants at the event.
By Niyi Ogungbola
Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy Alhaji Abdulwaheed Odusile has called on citizens and residents of Ogun State to show more interest and come out to be vaccinated,saying COVID-19 is far from gone, is still a live and kicking.
Odusile who declared opened a one day advocacy workshop on COVID-19 Vaccination at ROLAT Hotel,Ijebu-Ode made the call with particular attention to the people of sub-urban and rural areas who are yet to be vaccinated.
Odusile discussing with the Cordinating Director, Ministry of Information and Strategy,Lanre Ogunyinka.
According to Odusile who expressed State Government dispelsure to people's disposition to COVID-19 vaccines, said only 2.8 percent of Nigerians population has been vaccinated inspite of mass vaccination campings across the nation.
The Commissioner therefore, applealled to the Journalists who were the main participants at the workshop to use their medium to get people inform about the need to be vaccinated bearing in mind that the scourge is till much alive and kicking.
"Without a doubt, roughly two years after the first case of COVID-19 was announced in Nigeria, life seems to be returning to normal with the stringent restrictions imposed at the height of the pandemic now almost totally removed.
"But behind this air of normalcy is the fact that the scourge is far from gone as COVID-19 is still alive and kicking, and spreading in our community, potentially killing people who have not been vaccinated and with a compromised immunity.
"The battle is yet to be won.
Part of the goals set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in May, 2021 to stop the spread of the virus reveals the expectation that 10% of the population of every country would have been vaccinated by September, 2021. With this mind-set, several nations of the world including our country, Nigeria, set in motion machineries to actualize the target.
"Unfortunately, as of November, 2021, only 2.81% of the Nigeria’s population of over 200 million had received at least one dose, which was a far cry from set goal. This is irrespective of the fact that COVAX, which comprises a coalition of the WHO and its partners for global equitable access to vaccines, had supplied enough vaccines to the country. Besides, government has continuously publicized the availability, effectiveness, and safeness of the vaccines across the country.
"Furthermore, to scale up demand for the vaccines and make them more accessible, the Nigeria National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), flagged of Covid 19 Mass Vaccination Campaign in most states of the federation, with Ogun as one of the pilot states for the programme. Despite all these, it was quite disturbing that many Nigerians, especially those in the sub-urban and rural areas have not shown sufficient motivation to voluntarily get vaccinated against the virus.
"The question to ask is why. Why is this apathy among our people to get vaccinated in spite of government best efforts through making the vaccines accessible? There is no quick or one answer to this, but one area that needs to be looked into is sensitization of the populace to get them sufficiently interested in the vaccines. And there is no better vehicle to use to achieve this than the media, hence this workshop.
"Dear colleagues, we cannot hide from the need for collaborative efforts between government and its partners, one of which is the media, towards further sensitization of our people at the grassroots about the reality of Covid-19. More importantly, we need to jointly formulate practical strategies aimed at communicating the correct messages about the vaccines to our people.
"Given this reality, our government, in partnership with UNICEF, has decided to bring together media practitioners from all corners of the State, particularly those closest to residents from the 20 Local Government Areas of the State, to discuss how to share genuine and correct information about the ongoing mass vaccination exercise.
"I am confident that the array of media practitioners selected for this workshop, will come up with viable strategies to help boost the people’s confidence in the Covax vaccination. On our part as government, we will continue to strengthen our bond with development partners, while ensuring that the well-being of residents is prioritized at all times.
"I want to call on you all to use this opportunity as a springboard for effecting positive behavioural change in our people’s disposition to the covid-19 vaccines. The media, as we all know, is a potent agent capable of collectively achieving this alongside government". Odusile urged media practitioners.
Earlier,the Cordinating Director in the Ministry of Information and Strategy,Mr.Lanre Ogunyinka in his welcome address,said the virus is real and Journalists must take it up as their ressponbility to educate and inform people about its consequences.
"Despite the disposition of some of our people to the virus and its consequences for individuals and society alike, the fact remains that the virus is real.
"As such, we must, as professionals, saddle ourselves with the responsibility of informing the public about the development impetus that would impact positively on their well-being, through awareness campaigns in the form of news reports, articles, features, interviews, documentaries, and other vital means of informing to provoke the right attitudinal change and such that will convince a majority of our people in Nigeria on the reality of the Covid 19 pandemic.
"More importantly, we have a duty to sensitize our people on the need to get vaccinated in order to survive the various variants of Covid-19."Ogunyinka applealled to Journalists.
Meanwhile,among schoolers who dealt with some topics related to COVID-19 such as "Combating Rumors and Myths of COVAX,Risk communication and Demand Generation for COVAX ,Media and demand creation for COVAX" among others includes, Dr Goke Rauf of Mass Communication Department,Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta,Ogun State.
and Akogun Niyi Ogungbola, publisher First Awareness Online Newspaper.
First Awareness reports that the event was memorable as Journalists who participated at the Workshop were drawn from all the 20 local governments information departments in the State, notable National Newspapers and Online News platforms to include First Awareness Newspapers online.
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