COVID-19 Vaccination: Rivers Funds LGAs To Reach Interiors

In order to meet its target of vaccinating 2.5 million people by the end of January 2022, the leadership of all the 23 Local Government Areas Rivers State have been funded to ensure that people in the hard-to-reach areas of the State are also vaccinated.
Making this known in an exclusive interview, the State Immunization Officer, Dr. Inwon J. Urang, stated that for this purpose, the leadership of all the LGAs have been funded to enable them carry out necessary sensitisation and subsequent vaccination of their citizenry.
“All LGA chairmen have got funding. We are expecting that they will get to all the interiors of the LGAs in the State, including the hard-to-reach areas.
“So, no matter how interior a place is, it is assigned to a particular LGA. The LGAs are supposed to get down to these places”, he said.
Dr Urang explained that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms have also been put in place to ensure that such funds given to the LGAs are judiciously utilised.
He also used the opportunity to urge leaders in the various communities to notify the authorities if vaccinators do not get to their localities through the following call lines: 09035107880 and 08025483633.
Dr Urang called on all residents in Rivers State to take the COVID-19 vaccination seriously and get vaccinated.
“We want everybody to know that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and protect against the COVID-19 disease. We want everybody to take the vaccine and be protected”, he concluded.
Explaining further, the Acting State Educator, Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board (RSPHCMB), Dr. Babbo Diana, said the board is working in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health (MoH), through their Social Mobilisation Officers in the LGAs.
“The State Immunization Officer has drawn up teams to work together. Vaccinators work together as teams and are deployed to all the areas. When the MoH has drawn a plan for the particular LGA, these hard-to-reach areas are also part of it.
“The vaccinators don’t mind sleeping over in some areas to ensure that people in the area are vaccinated. We don’t mind using the one-off vaccines, so that we don’t have to go back to a particular place for the second dose, but may be for the booster one later”, she said.
Rivers State is currently 21st in terms of COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the country, which is a leap from its previous 15th position.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo