The governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on live television Friday afternoon and urged members of the public to take the vaccine, saying it is meant to build herd immunity against the virus.
The shot, which AbdulRazaq received in his arm, was administered at the presidential lodge of the State Government House, by Dr. Femi Oladiji, who is the Chairman of the Kwara State Medical Advisory Committee, according to a statement by Rafiu Ajakaye, the governor’s spokesperson.
After taking the vaccine, Ajakaye’s statement quoted the governor as saying, “Earlier this week, we received our consignment of the COVID-19 Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The consignment contains exactly 55,790 doses and devices. That is our share of the first batch of the vaccine. Today’s flag off of the vaccination in Kwara State clearly represents an important phase in our management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The vaccine comes well recommended by various medical regulatory bodies in Nigeria and beyond. The decision for leaders to take the first jabs is to build public confidence in the vaccine and erase whatever doubts members of the public may have about it. COVID-19 is real. We are glad to be getting over it with the development of this vaccine.”
The Governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his leadership and the entire team that played active roles in the battle against this pandemic in the country.
“I commend the Kwara State medical team for their priceless job of keeping us safe while the pandemic raged! We are very proud of your sacrifices and commitment to the Hippocratic Oath as medical workers. I also thank members of the COVID-19 committee for their work and our traditional institutions for their support,” the governor, according to his spokesperson’s statement, said.