Coronavirus: Sanwo-Olu, health workers receive first jab

The first jab of the AstraZeneca Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine has been administered in Lagos State.

The Incident Commander in the State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, kicked off the vaccine rollout programme after he got the first jab of the serum supplied by the Federal Government.

Sanwo-Olu was vaccinated on Friday afternoon at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba, behind the Deputy Incident Commander and Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who took the first shot.

The Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, also got the shot of the vaccine.

Speaking after the injection, the governor corroborated the World Health Organization (W.H.O), testifying to the safety of the vaccine. He said there was no reason for anyone to panic over the desirability of the inoculant while urging frontline workers enrolled in the priority list to take shots of the vaccine within the stipulated period.

He said: “I have just received a shot of AstraZeneca vaccine and I don’t feel awkward. This falls in line with what the W.H.O has been saying about the safety of the vaccine. I commend all our numerous health workers for their sacrifice. The IDH is still the epicentre of our COVID-19 response; that is why I came here for the vaccination.

“We have also started administering the vaccine to our health workers, who are part of the frontline workers we identified in the rollout programme. All other frontline workers in other hospitals are also receiving the vaccine and they should continue with the process, as we roll out our strategy on how people need to be vaccinated.”  Sanwo-Olu urged the public to refrain from churning out unsubstantiated information about the vaccine, asking residents to allow the science to lead the nation out of the pandemic.

The governor said he was optimistic that the nation would be out of this pandemic if the vaccine rollout programme went as planned.