Covid-19 Vaccine: Dame Okowa Urges Delta Women To Turn Up For Vaccination

Wife of the Delta State Governor, Dame Edith Okowa has called on women in the state to avail themselves of the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination roll out programme.

Dame Okowa made this call shortly after receiving the first dose of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) approved Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, at the State Executive Council Chamber, Government House, Asaba.

The First Lady who got vaccinated alongside her husband and state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, expressed confidence that, the commencement of the vaccination in the state and country will curtail the spread of the dreaded virus.

She encouraged Delta women to take the vaccine, as it is safe for humans noting that the vaccine had gone through various clinical research, testing and had been approved by world health bodies.

Earlier, Governor Okowa who led members of the State Executive Council, members of the state legislature, judiciary, political appointees, health workers and journalists in launching the vaccination programme, assured Deltans of the safety of the vaccine, adding that more doses would be delivered to the state in April and more in later months.

Okowa stated that the more people were vaccinated, the more the immune system of the people would be boosted.

He said that the effect of COVID-19 had been very disastrous to the health and economy of the nation, but expressed happiness on the arrival of the vaccines.

“We want to reassure our people that the vaccine is safe and that they should ignore the various social media reports.

“There is no doubt that in every drug and vaccine it is possible to have side effects; it is something that is common, but particularly about this Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by WHO and NAFDAC.

“It has been applied in so many countries with over a 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca administered worldwide.

“This particular vaccine was found to be much better for us as a nation because of the storage possibilities in Nigeria and I am aware we have such cold-chain facilities across the nation. It’s important that we encourage our people to take it because it’s safe,” Okowa stated.