Lagos State will not compromise on the vaccination protocols rolled out by the Federal Government, Commissioner for Health Prof. Akin Abayomi said on Thursday.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) had accused the state of malpractices in the exercise.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who paid an unscheduled visit to some vaccination centres, said the state has so far vaccinated over 100,000 people.
Abayomi and his Information and Strategy counterpart, Gbenga Omotoso visited the vaccination centres located inside the Police Hospital, Falomo and the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba.
The health commissioner debunked the allegation of vaccine sales at any of the 88 vaccination sites.
He explained that COVID vaccination protocols are strictly monitored to ensure accountability of every unit of the vaccine received by the state. He added that every unit administered to citizens is accounted for at every stage of the process.
Abayomi noted that every unit of vaccine administered tallies with the barcode on the vaccination card as part of the quality assurance and accountability framework put in place.
He said it is difficult and near impossible for any unit of vaccine to be sold without being detected.
“This why vaccinators are mandated to return every unit vaccine vial after use to us for proper audit; we then destroy the vial ourselves after a proper audit has been taken and every vial accounted for,” he said.
The commissioner stressed the need for citizens who fit into Phase I of the COVID vaccination to register on the dedicated self-registration portal before visiting any of the 88 authorised centres.
He noted that e-registration remained a mandatory protocol in the process for vaccination in the state.
The commissioner said those eligible for the vaccination’s Phase One “are expected to pre-register on https://www.nphcdaict.com.ng or https://www.vaccination.gov.ng and fill the electronic form with their qualifying verifiable details, preferred vaccination site, date, and time.”
According to him, qualifying persons should pre-register 24 to 48 hours before their intended date of vaccination.
“We encourage all Lagosians hoping to be vaccinated according to the qualification criteria for Phase One to strictly utilise the pre-registration portal provided by the NPHCDA and get a scheduled vaccination appointment before visiting the vaccination site as scheduled,” he said.
The commissioner explained that after a successful pre-registration, a vaccination ID will be generated by the portal with a confirmation text message and an email sent to each enrollee who are qualified to get the vaccine.