Says Duchess Int puts Lagos on world healthcare map

By Chioma Obinna

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday explained the rationale behind the approved N6,000 administrative fee for COVID vaccination in private facilities saying, vaccination in private sites is optional.

Sanwo-Olu maintained that no one is compelled to receive their vaccines at any private facility as the vaccines in both are of the same quality and brand. 

He explained that they recognised that there are citizens, who for personal reasons, would prefer to receive the vaccine at the comfort of a private facility, adding that, “It is important that such citizens should not be deprived access to the vaccine especially as this negates the principle of vaccine equity.

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Therefore, the involvement of the private sector is important.”

Sanwo-Olu further added that Lagosians that required their vaccination at any of the state’s public facilities should visit the national platform at https://publicreg.vaccination.gov.ng to register and schedule their vaccination or register on arrival at any of the 206 public sites. 

He said individuals requiring vaccination at any of the selected private facilities should please, in addition, visit https://lagosvaccine.com to book and pay for their vaccination, either before or after registering on the national platform. Both the public and private facilities would also be available to assist Lagos residents to make these bookings.

“However, we strongly suggest that residents make these bookings before proceeding to their facility of choice to avoid overcrowding and delays.

He added that the list of private facilities in phase one of the process will be published in the next few days.

The Governor also explained that the administrative cost of N6, 000 was for the two doses which cover the cost that the private sector will incur to facilitate the administration of the vaccine which includes logistics, personnel, quality oversight, administrative and overhead costs. 

“The cost will be proportionally lower for single-dose or those wishing to take a single booster dose,” he added.

The further announced that the state has developed a vaccination strategy leveraging on both the strengths of the public and private sectors of the healthcare system. 

The strategy dubbed ‘Count Me In! 4 million Lagosians Vaccinated Against COVID-19’ is aimed at targeting the full vaccination of four million Lagos residents before the end of December 2021; and was launched by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu alongside the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi and the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib. 

He said the mandate was to vaccinate 30 per cent of the Lagos population within one year starting from August of 2021. 

“This is a concerted effort to achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of vaccinating 40 per cent of the world before the end of this year. Lagos thus far has only been able to fully vaccinate just under 30 percent of its population.                                                                                      
He further explained: 

“We have also invested in the training of our public personnel so that the customer experience in our public facilities would be matched equally with that of the private sector.

“The decision to leverage on the private sector is based solely on our resolve to include private health facilities and corporate institutions as additional sites for the COVID-19 vaccination administration. This is in furtherance of the effort to increase the reach and access to the available vaccines provided through the generous contributions and donations by the Federal Government and our donors. 

“By doing this, we are once again recognizing the impact of the collaboration between the public and private sector for healthcare and strengthening the link for far-reaching initiatives in the State. 

He said that the COVID vaccines donated to Lagos by the Federal Government is free and its administration comes at no cost to citizens who visit any of the designated public vaccination sites located across the 57 local government areas and local council development areas of the State. 

“It is equally important to mention that our public vaccination sites have the capacity to effectively administer the COVID vaccines on any person who visit irrespective of class, social or religious inclination or tribe.