Ayodele Olalere
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday said Lagosians who are yet to receive the second dose of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine should avoid receiving the new Moderna vaccine which the government has just received and is being tested by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC.
The governor spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja while addressing newsmen and giving updates on the Corona Virus cases in the state.
Governor Sanwo-Olu who confirmed the receipt of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine at the national level assured residents that Lagos will get a sizeable number of the four million Moderna covid-19 vaccine once NAFDAC completes the sample testing.
He, however, emphasized that those who took the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as the first dose should not take the Moderna covid-19 vaccine as the second dose. According to him, such ones should wait until the government receives another batch of AstraZeneca doses. He urged those who are yet to receive the vaccine to make themselves available for the Moderna doses once approved by NAFDAC.
The governor also raised the alarm over the increasing cases of covid-19 in the State, saying the state has recorded six deaths per day in the last one week. He emphasised the state has been had been hit with the 3rd wave of the virus.
Governor Sanwo-olu who attributed the increase in Covid-19 cases to the high influx of inbound passengers to Lagos, implored travellers to always register their valid contact and avoid absconding from being tested.
He also enjoined residents not to lose guard on the non-pharmaceutical protocols and compliance, warning that anyone caught violating the protocols in public places would be prosecuted.
The governor also appealed to students on a summer holidays to adhere strictly to Covid-19 protocols and report any suspicious symptoms in their schools to the Eko telemed free toll line.
He said over 5,000 residents were admitted to the Isolation centres at the IDH hospital in YABA in the last month.
He added there were 4,300 confirmed cases in July alone and 352 admissions into isolation facilities.
“Let me make it clear that this necessary sense of alarm should not be responded to with panic, but instead with a firm to resolve and determination to reverse the trend. We have done it before and we can do it again. We dealt with the first and second waves and did our best to prevent a third wave.
Now that it is fully upon us, we must dig deep into what we have learnt from the previous waves, as well as summon the will to do everything necessary to bring down the numbers, on the way to eventually defeating the virus once and for all,” he urged Lagosians.
