FG To Televise Buhari, Osinbajo COVID-19 Vaccination

The federal government has said provision would be made for a live broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

This was made known by the executive director and chief executive officer, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib.

Naija News reports that Nigeria is expecting 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine before the end of January.

Speaking at the media briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, on Thursday, Shuaib said Buhari and Osinbajo’s vaccination would be live TV to promote awareness.

He said: “We will like to see a situation where Mr. president, the vice-president, the SGF, critical leaders come and take the vaccine in the full glare of the public to demonstrate that these vaccines are safe. So we have to make provisions for those.

“Even in developed countries, what we have seen is that apart from the prioritisation of health workers, you have to also identify critical leaders that you don’t want them to be wiped off by the virus. For example, in warfare, if you want to destroy your enemies, you look for specific leaders, captains, the generals; once you decapitate them, then the soldiers will become weak.

“So, as much as possible, you do not want to also leave your leaders vulnerable to COVID-19, it doesn’t mean you want to prioritise politicians; that is not correct. I emphasised during the last briefing that we will prioritise our health workers because they are the ones in direct contact with cases in isolation units.”