Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State disclosed his plan at the Global Citizen Live event in celebration of healthcare workers who are at the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic to vaccinate at least 30% of the State’s population within one year.
Global Citizen Live is part of a once-in-a-generation day of unity with artists, celebrities, and world leaders coming together to create change and impact climate and poverty.
The 24-hour broadcast event featured performances and speeches from locations around the world, including Lagos, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Sydney, and more.
A-list Nigerian artists, Femi Kuti, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Made Kuti and Seun Kuti all performed at the Lagos show hosted by TV personalities Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and Nancy Isime.
Sanwo-Olu speaking at the event, stated that a substantial proportion of a population would need to be vaccinated to lower the overall amount of virus which can spread in the whole population.
He said;
”405,000 persons have received the first dose of AstraZeneca and these 289,000 have had their second dose. For Moderna, we have administered the first dose to 230,000 persons.
“This gives us about a 1.2 percent herd immunity, which is far below the minimum WHO target of 60 percent of the population,” the governor told his audience at the concert.
At the current rate, Sanwo-Olu said it would take about three years “to achieve our herd immunity target of vaccination of at least 60 percent of our population. We cannot continue at this speed if we seriously want to beat this virus.
“Lagos State will commit to prioritizing vaccine equity among its entire population. We plan to partner with the private sector once again to procure, store, distribute and administer vaccines across the state under the guidance of federal and state government laws.
“We propose to reserve and administer 50 percent of the vaccines procured in partnership with the private sector to be made available free of charge at government health centers.
“With this approach, we expect to vaccinate 30 percent of the population of Lagos State within one year. This will put us on a better and more sustainable path towards herd immunity,”
“Unequal distribution of vaccines, where richer nations have secured more doses than the size of their populations and are now considering and preparing to roll out booster shots, while poorer countries struggle to administer first doses, threatening efforts to end the pandemic for everyone everywhere.
“Vaccine equity is the only way for the pandemic to end for all of us and to do this we must ensure that vaccines are available to all, especially poorer countries that have had to struggle with supply.”
He added that Lagos State “will commit to prioritising vaccine equity among its entire population. We plan to partner with the private sector once again to procure, store, distribute and administer vaccines across the State under the guidance of federal and state government laws.”
The Finance Minister of Finance and Budget Planning, Zainab Ahmed, also speaking stated that ;
“Through various initiatives, we have deployed tools to scale social safety net programs, to mitigate the risk of children – particularly girls – not returning to school, and to support small businesses and safeguard jobs.”
