The Federal Government has introduced a special vaccination exercise that will enable members of staff and retirees of public and private sector firms to be vaccinated in their office premises.

This was disclosed by the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib in Abuja on Tuesday.

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According to him, the platform was created in pursuant of the government’s mandate of making vaccination compulsory for all civil servants, as well as in recognition of the fact that some workers may find it difficult to leave their duty post to vaccination sites.

“We have introduced and expanded in-situ corporate vaccination. This entails making special arrangement for eligible staff, dependents and retirees of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) and the private sector to get vaccinated in their office premises.

“MDAs, public and private corporate organization that require staff to be vaccinated should visit www.nphcda.gov.ng to fill the request form. These services would be provided at no cost to the Ministries, agency/cooperate bodies,” he said.

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Shuaib, speaking further disclosed that Nigeria has been categorized as an ‘amber’ country by the government of United kingdom based on the number of populations immunized and incidence rates of COVID-19 infection.

Travellers from Amber’s countries, according to him are placed under compulsory isolation by the UK government, whether or not such has been vaccinated.

He said, “We have been inundated with questions about why the UK insists Nigerians who have been fully vaccinated are still required to isolate upon arrival in the UK.

“Nigeria alongside countries like France and the Netherlands are listed as amber countries by the UK Government based on criteria such as the number of populations immunized and incidence rates of COVID-19 infection.

“Individuals from Countries listed as amber countries are required by the UK Government to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and be quarantined for a few days,” he said.

He also noted that here has been report of cases where individuals contracted the virus 14 days after being fully vaccinated.

This according to him, is termed breakthrough infection.

“The observation is that in these individuals, the disease is usually milder than those who were unvaccinated. Vaccination prevents one from severe disease, hospitalization and death.

“If our communities continue to remain unvaccinated, we will keep endangering our citizens most especially those who are vulnerable, ” he said.

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According to the Agency, as of 6th September 2021, a total of 3,600,858 Nigerians have received their 1st dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

This is made up of 2,551,738 persons vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,049,120 persons vaccinated with Moderna vaccine, bringing the total number of persons vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine to 1,576,011.