By Joy Odor
The Nigeria Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has called on Nigerians who had completed their second COVID-19 vaccination to go and take the booster jabs, which has been proven to give extra immunity.
He explained that administering of booster shots was now being encouraged by the Federal Government because of the affirmation by WHO that those with vaccine booster shots were less likely to fall sick or die from COVID-19 infection.
The Minister who disclosed this at a Ministerial Press Briefing on Update on COVID-19 Response and Development in the Health Sector in Abuja on Monday informed that this is as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 as well as other variants of the virus that may be imported into the country.
Dr. Ehanire opined that the sub-lineages partly responsible for the current increase in COVID-19 cases in other countries, such as XBB.1.5 and BF.7 COVID-19 variants were yet to detected in the country as at November 2022.
He said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) led COVID-19 emergency operation unit was closely monitoring the rise in the new Omicron sub-lineages XBB.1.5 in the UK and US, as well as the current resurgence COVID-19 trends in China, and other countries with a high volume of traffic to and from Nigeria.
The Minister maintained that the sub-variants of Covid-19 have been circulating around the world including Nigeria, hence citizens should make use of every opportunity government has provided to get vaccinated.
“We are working to complete testing and analysis for December 2022. Since the detection of the Omicron variant in December 2021, its sub-lineages (BQ.1/BQ.1.1) has been dominant in Nigeria also as seen in other parts of the world.
“It is important to note that regardless of COVID-19 variants in different parts of the world, severe disease, admissions, and deaths disproportionately affect the unvaccinated and those with established risk factors thus – older people, people with co-morbidities etc.
“In Nigeria, we have had 5,708,974 samples tested, 266,463 confirmed cases, 259,850 discharged cases and unfortunately 3,155 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)” he said.
The Minister not that based on confirmed data, COVID-19 has continued to follow a different epidemiological course in Nigeria and most of Africa, with lesser cases, admissions, and deaths from the Omicron sub-lineages.
He therefore called on Nigerians to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as the vaccine remains the most important intervention for preventing severe disease, hospitalisation, and death.
Dr Ehanire advised the general public to continue to adhere to the recommended non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPIs) such as the use of facemasks, good hand and respiratory hygiene and avoidance of crowded spaces.
