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143,387 North-East Health Workers To Receive Vaccines Against COVID-19

Phase II vaccination targets the vaccination of the remaining health workers and those aged 50 years and above.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has said that 143,387 health workers are to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus in the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states of the North-East.

The UNICEF’s Immunisation Officer, Mohammed Ibrahim, stated this on Wednesday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

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He added that the exercise is being implemented under the first phase of the vaccination drive of UNICEF in insurgency affected states.

He said that the health workers are the most at risk; as they continually interact with COVID-19 infected persons in the front lines of the North-East.

He said, “As part of Phase 1, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states are included in the vaccine launch. A total of 143,387 health workers from these states are expected to be vaccinated.

“The vaccination exercise is to commence today (Wednesday) in the six states of the region. In a breakdown of the COVID-19 health workers; Borno has the highest number of health workers, with 55,255, while Yobe state has 33,997 health personnel scheduled to be vaccinated this week under the first phase.”  

He noted that the phase II vaccination targets the vaccination of the remaining health workers and those aged 50 years and above.

“The phase three targets those with co-morbidities under 50-year old residents,” he said.

He also explained that phase IV would target the population of people at risk with a high burden of disease.

He said UNICEF worked with the Borno State Government to facilitate the training of more health workers.

According to him, the training was to improve the capacity of the resource persons in community engagement and demand creations and vaccine management. Other engagements include cold chain and waste management, service delivery and surveillance.

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PUBLIC HEALTH