COVID-19 surge: Get fully vaccinated, boosted, Fed Govt advises Nigerians

• Published date: 09 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Given the spike in global COVID-19 cases in China, United Kingdom, United States of America, others, the Federal Government has urged Nigerians, especially the elderly and those with co-morbidities, to get vaccinated and take their booster doses.

It stated that although the sub-lineages partly responsible for the current increase in COVID-19 cases in other countries - XBB.1.5 and BF.7 - have not yet been detected in the country as of November 2022, it was working to complete testing and analysis for December 2022 to ascertain the situation.

It also encouraged Nigerians to continue to adhere to the recommended non-pharmaceutical Intervention (NPIs) such as the use of face masks, good hand and respiratory hygiene, and avoidance of crowded spaces.

The government said as of January 8, 2023, a total of 76,161,470 eligible persons have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria, representing 65.7 per cent of the eligible population, while 64,094,498 persons have been fully vaccinated, representing 55.3 per cent of eligible population.

Furthermore, only 9,892,018 have received their booster doses.

Read Also: 13 new COVID-19 cases reported in Lagos, Edo, says NCDC

Speaking during a briefing by the Federal Ministry of Health on Monday, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, said: 'The variants circulating in China are predominantly BA 5.2 and Bf.7 which make up 90 per cent of all isolates. These variants have been circulating in other parts of the world...