ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, YENAGOA
Bayelsa State Government says the state is scheduled to receive a paltry 586 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Federal Government for her over two million people.
Bayelsa State has about 57 new cases of persons hit by the virus currently undergoing quarantine at the various isolation centres.
It has, however, not recorded any new cases since last Friday.Speaking at a news conference on Thursday in his office in Yenagoa, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Pabara Igwele, said that the first set of Bayelsa people to benefit from the expected vaccines would be the first line health-care workers.
He assured the people that talks were on at the State Commissioners for Health Forum level to see if more vaccines could be procured to meet the needs of more Nigerians as soon as possible.
Igwele further explained that the current challenge of the state government on how to distribute the vaccine to the nooks and crannies of the state is air transportation, which is the safest way, because it has a short lifespan of five days.
The commissioner said, “Those that are more endangered are the first line health-care workers and the Federal Government though the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has agreed that when this first set of vaccines arrives, they should be the first to have it so that they can be alive to take care of others.“
But there are talks at the State Commissioners Forum level to see if the states can also procure more vaccines to meet the demands of Nigerians.
And the vaccine has a lifespan of five days; so the challenge is that when they arrive the country, we have to administer it within five days.“However, we have contacted the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to help us in the distribution because if we must beat the five-day deadline for the vaccine, we must distribute them to the nook and cranny of the state by air and you know that is very expensive.”