The Nigerian Government has launched Scales 3.0 strategy for Covid-19 vaccination and public healthcare services across the country.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, said at the launch on Monday in Abuja that the SCALES 3.0 strategy, which is an initiative of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) was aimed at accelerating integrated COVID-19 vaccination and public healthcare services across the country.
Mustapha commended the NPHCDA, partners, and other stakeholders, especially the various state governors for their leadership and oversight and lamented that the present record of only 24.4% of the total eligible population of fully vaccinated as at 3rd August, 2022 leaves much to be desired.
“Nigeria has continued to experience changes in the factors that influence demand and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
“These changing situations are not uniform across the country. They vary from state to state, and therefore require continuous review of our strategies for promoting demand and ensuring vaccine access and accountability.
“The SCALES 3.0 strategy will address the identified implementation gaps in SCALES 2.0 and bring about more accountability for performance, strengthen electronic data reporting and promote robust demand generation at the community levels,” he said.
He noted that there have been significant decline in deaths arising from COVID-19 as a result of the ongoing vaccination, he, however, urged Nigerians to continue to maintain the various preventive measures so as to remain safe.
“We should not lower our guards or give in to complacency as the virus is still very much around us and can mutate,” he added.
The Nigerian government had in February this year, launched the optimized SCALES 2.0 strategy, which ramped up COVID-19 vaccination coverage, but the proportion of fully vaccinated Nigerians is still low when compared to the set target.
GIK/APA