*The Lagos State Government discloses it engages 135 private facilities for mass COVID-19 vaccinations after a rigorous selection and accreditation process hinging on quality assurance, vaccine safety and care

*The government okays N6,000 fee, says Nigerians losing vaccination cards need affidavits, police reports

Emmanuel Akosile | 绿帽献妻

In a move to enhance the ongoing vaccination campaign against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Lagos State Government (LASG) has disclosed about 135 private health centres have been enrolled into its mass vaccination strategy in the state.

绿帽献妻 reports the current vaccination efforts in the state are targeted at inoculating four million Lagos residents by December 2021.

The LASG stated this brings the number of public and private vaccination sites in the state to 360 thus far.

COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria

Prof. Akin Abayomi, Honourable Commissioner for Health, in Lagos State, who disclosed this during a media briefing at the weekend, said that the 360 vaccination sites, comprising the 135 private health facilities and 225 existing public vaccination sites, had been earmarked for the mass vaccination campaign across the state.

The Commissioner, who said that more private health facilities would be added to the list, stressed that the private facilities were engaged after a rigorous selection and accreditation process that hinges on quality assurance, vaccine safety and follow-up care.

The Lagos State Government decided to partner with the private sector to rapidly ramp up COVID-19 vaccination to achieve herd immunity.

According to the Commissioner for Health, the state government decided to leverage both the strengths of the public and private sectors of the healthcare system with a full understanding that a substantial proportion of the population would need to be vaccinated to mitigate the impact of a fourth wave in Lagos.

The decision, he stated, is to reduce the impact of the spread of the COVID-19, and prevent the re-emergence of the catastrophes witnessed during the previous waves of the pandemic in the West African country.

The Lagos State Government, through the Primary Health Care Board, does not have the capacity alone to ramp up vaccination to a massive level in such a short time and before the deadline without partnering with the private sector, he noted.

Abayomi further said the inclusion of the private health facilities in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement was similar to the strategy deployed by the state for the escalating COVID-19 testing in Lagos.

He recalled that the exercise at the time resulted in a dramatic increase from an average of 200 a day to over 2,000 a day.

It equally culminated in a total of 800,000 tests in less than a year, while the state accounting for more than 30 percent alone of all COVID-19 PCR tests done in Nigeria.

The Commissioner added that registration for vaccination at public and private health facilities in Lagos State should be done online on the Web site of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) vis https://nphcda.vaccination.gov.ng.

Administrative cost of vaccinations in pravte facilities is N6,000

In a related development, Prof. Abayomi earlier had said that those who wish to receive COVID-19 vaccines within the comforts of a private facility could do so at a minimal administrative cost of N6,000.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health in a recent statement noted the charges would cover the cost that the private sector would incur to facilitate the administration of the vaccine.

According to him, this cost includes logistics, personnel, quality oversight, administrative and overhead costs.

The cost, he stated, would be proportionally lower for a single dose or those wishing to take a single booster dose.

The Commssioner noted: 鈥淭he public-private partnership is similar to the strategy we deployed for escalating our COVID-19 testing which resulted in a dramatic increase in testing done in Lagos from an average of 200 a day to over 2,000 a day culminating in a total of 800,000 tests in less than a year and Lagos State accounting for more than 30 percent alone of all COVID-19 PCR tests done in Nigeria.

鈥淭his demonstrates the power of public-private partnerships, with the inclusion of the significant capacity of the private sector but the government retaining strict regulatory oversight and quality function.鈥�

The statement also said: 鈥淲ith this approach, we intend to ramp up our vaccination strategy using the existing public facilities as well as the inclusion of some private facilities.

鈥淚t is imperative to emphasise that the vaccines administered in public facilities is free and would remain free to the public as they were contributed to us by the Federal Government and our donor partners, those wishing to receive the vaccines can go to any of the designated 206 government facilities and receive their dose free of charge.

He, however, clarified that 鈥渘o one is compelled to receive their vaccines at any private facility as the vaccines in both are of the same quality and brand.

鈥淲e have also invested in training of our public personnel so that the customer experience in our public facilities would be matched equally with that of the private sector.鈥�

Kindly Share This Story