COVID-19 : Zamfara receives 65,000 doses of Moderna vaccine

 

The Zamfara State Government has expressed readiness to partner international donor agencies to combat COVID-19 and other diseases affecting residents of the state.

This was disclosed by the Speaker, Zamfara State House of Assembly, Hon. Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya, who doubles as the state chairman of the COVID-19 taskforce, when he flagged off the second phase of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines donated by the United States of America Centre for Disease Control at the state medical store in Gusau, the state capital.

Magarya, who commended the efforts and concern shown by the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in particular and all other donor agencies in general, assured that the state would still maintain its lead in the fight against the pandemic by proper and judicious use of the vaccine for the people of the state.

He appealed to international donor agencies and development partners to assist the state with drugs and medication to fight the scourge of cholera outbreak in some local government areas of the state.

“The state government would seriously look into the possibility of providing solar powered electricity to the state medical stores to augment the existing source of electricity by generating sets that are more expensive but not reliable,” he said.

Earlier, the agency’s representative, Hajiya Halima Bolatito, said that the over 65,000 doses of Moderna vaccines donated to the state forms part of the US corporate social responsibility to African nations on how to effectively tackle the pandemic, assuring that much more doses will be donated to the state in subsequent periods .

She commended the efforts of the state government by showing serious commitment for the establishment of isolation centres in the state and also congratulated the state for having zero index cases of the disease as at the present time.

In their own speeches, both UNICEF country representative, Mr Adebayo Abdulkadir Bolaji, and representatives of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Namadi Sambo, the state government was serious on how it effectively handled the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

The medical experts also warned the general public against mixing the Astrazeneca vaccine with the current Moderna.

They explained that those who took Astrazeneca should wait for their second dose of it while those that would take Moderna as first dose should also wait for the second round of the same vaccine, saying that the two cannot be interchanged.

Conducting the taskforce committee chairman round the facility to inspect the cool chain room where the over vaccine is being stored, the Executive Secretary of the state Primary Health Care Board, Dr Tukur Ismail, said keeping the medical store is very imperative.

He appealed to the state government through Magarya to come to their aid by providing solar powered electricity to avoid any technical hitch in the cool supply chain.