#AWeekofCOVID-19: Fresh million; compulsory vaccination; card racket

Another week, and still COVID-19 is here. The second phase of vaccination campaign has taken off, there are residents yet to get their booster shots, and there have emerged some cogs in the wheel. For one, Edo kickstarted a government stance: a restriction of access to churches, mosques, event centres for residents who cannot show […]

#AWeekofCOVID-19: Fresh million; compulsory vaccination; card racket
Another week, and still COVID-19 is here. The second phase of vaccination campaign has taken off, there are residents yet to get their booster shots, and there have emerged some cogs in the wheel.

For one, Edo kickstarted a government stance: a restriction of access to churches, mosques, event centres for residents who cannot show proof of vaccination. The move has not gone down well in the state. It has been slammed in many quarters.

And the federal government it was mulling sanctions for workers who don’t get vaccinated. That is geting a kick in the teeth too, with many calling it forced vaccination. On social media, it has been contrasted with the rush for palliatives.

Also over in Bauchi, the vaccine met cold shoulders from the public and saw the growing boom of a racket to get vaccination cards without getting the jab.

In the midst of it all is a growing campaign by the Nigerian Solidary Support Fund to get one million Nigerians vaccinated by 2022

And in other COVID-19 coverage…

NYSC camps COVID-19-proof?

Thousands of fresh graduates are trooping onto orientation camps across the country for a three-week stint. It is the start of their mandatory yearlong national service. But proofing the camp against COVID-19 is a big challenge. The scheme’s director-general says all requirements for keeping camps safe have been met.

Many patients yet to recover, months after hospitalisation

A large majority of COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized during last winter’s surge still have not fully recovered, a new study has found. Researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed 253 patients who were hospitalized towards the end of fall 2020 and winter 2021.

Insecurity, COVID-19 worsen malnutrition

The United Nations Children’s Fund has said that acute malnutrition is the biggest threat to child survival and development due to insecurity and displacements in the northeast region.  It also warns that malnutrition is currently the biggest threat to child survival and development in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, the three states worst hit by Boko Haram insurgency.

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Rejection of 2nd dose amid card racketeering

Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BSPHDA) has expressed concern over the rejection of the second dose COVID-19 vaccines by residents who received the first dose of the vaccine across the state, calling on people to come out and receive their vaccines.

It has also uncovered a trend of wealthy residents bribing vaccinators to issue COVID-19 Vaccination Card without taking the vaccines.

Akwa Ibom @34 goes low key

All events scheduled to mark Akwa Ibom State 34th anniversary are to be kept at low key, besides inauguration of the numerous projects initiated by the government of Akwa Ibom State.

The resolution was reached on Wednesday after the State Executive Council presided over by Governor Udom Emmanuel, received the report of the COVID-19 Management Committee on the spike in the Delta variant of COVID-19 and it’s attendant pressure on the state.

Dealing with fake vaccination cards

As more people in the US are asked to prove they have been vaccinated in order to work, study or socialise, a flourishing black market in fake vaccination cards has sprung up. But what can be done to tackle it?

Vaccines cut risk of long Covid, study finds

Being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 not only cuts the risk of catching it, but also of an infection turning into long Covid, research led by King’s College London suggests. It shows that in the minority of people who get Covid despite two jabs, the odds of developing symptoms lasting longer than four weeks are cut by 50%.

This is compared with people who are not vaccinated. So far, 78.9% of over-16s in the UK have had two doses of a Covid vaccine.