Cross River State COVID-19 vaccination commence activities

Pharmacists, Public Private Hospitals Commence Cross River COVID19 vaccination Partners MTaPs On Vaccination Program.

To support the Cross River State’s COVID-19 vaccination program, the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (CRSPHCDA) in partnership with the United State Agency for International Development, Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (USAID-MTaPS) Project have flagged off the COVID-19 Vaccination by community pharmacies and private hospitals.

Flagging off the exercise, the Director-General, Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong stated that the partnership with USAID-MTaPs would improve covid-19 vaccination uptake in the state and also help the state hit its target.

\”In our quest to ensure that we improve COVID-19 vaccine coverage and ensure that we hit the targeted population, we decided to decentralize the process to also include private facilities and community pharmacies. A lot of people patronize private facilities and pharmacies for health services, which is why Cross River State sees the partnership of USAID-MTaPs as a key component to improve COVID-19 vaccination. We are hoping that Cross Riverians leverage on this partnership and get vaccinated.\”

\”With the support of the Cross River State government, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, and the USAID MTaPs program, community pharmacists have been trained on Covid-19 vaccination and other services that concern Covid-19. We will be sharing the list of the accredited pharmacists and private health facilities for Cross Riverians to know the facility where they can be vaccinated.\”

She also mentioned that the vaccines will be stored at the government health facilities that have solar panel refrigerators to help protect the potency of the vaccines, adding that the state is targeting to vaccinate 2.5 million people.

\”One of the challenges will be how to store the vaccines that is why we are not giving them the vaccine to store. They will only pick it up from any of the nearest government health facility that stores the vaccine. After vaccination, it is expected that they return the leftover to the nearest health facility where the vaccines were gotten from.\”

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\”Right now we are targeting about 2.5 million people to reach herd immunity in the state. Currently, we have surpassed 1.5 million people so we are hoping that very soon we will reach our target.\”

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Cross River State Ministry of Health, Dr. Iwara Iwara, said the partnership is designed to beef up the national coverage to about 70%, adding that the more people receive the vaccine, the more the whole population is protected.

Iwara mentioned that with the partnership with USAID MTaPs, Cross River State aims to have more accountability, more community engagement, and more monitoring so that they can reach that target.

Also speaking, the Senior Technical Adviser, MTaPs, Abuja office, Mr. Lawrence Wakdet noted that the USAID is working with MTaPs to support Covid-19 vaccination in the private sector.

\”USAID is now working with MTaPs to support vaccination in the private sector like Cross River COVID19 vaccination program and not only in the public facility as it used to be. That is why we are working with the community pharmacists, and public private hospitals in Cross River State to contribute to the numbers of those vaccinated.\”

Wakdet also added that the country can only be safe if 70% of the total population is vaccinated.

\”We know that we can only be safe if we get up to 70% of the total population vaccinated.\”

Highpoint of the event was the vaccination of those who have not received the vaccine yet.

Also present at the event were Dr. Pella of WHO, Chairman Association of private practitioners Dr. Aya, state lead MTaPs, Mrs. Gupo Enang, Director Disease control and immunization, Mrs. Joy Chabo, amongst others.