The Kwara government says the state will continue to strive to achieve 70 per cent COVID-19 vaccination coverage to achieve herd immunity against the disease.

Raji Razaq, the state Commissioner for Health, said this during the SCALES 3.0 COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Monday in Ilorin.

Mr Razaq lamented that presently the state has only achieved 38 per cent coverage in COVID-19 vaccination out of the 70 per cent target.

“The pandemic is still with us and should not be taken with levity. Kwara is not comfortable with the present sixth position on efforts and achievement on COVID-19 vaccination.

“The state will strive and reach the first position and reach the 70 per cent target,” he said.

Mr Razaq pointed out that funding remains critical for achieving goals, while urging all stakeholders and partners to support the government in achieving the set objectives.

The commissioner disclosed that ad-hoc personnel have been recruited by the government, trained and deployed to all hard-to-reach areas of the state for an effective COVID-19 vaccine campaign.

Nusirat Elelu, the executive secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, blamed hesitancy among state residents on COVID-19 vaccination for a recorded low COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the state.

She described the development as a huge challenge, adding that it slowed down the rate at which the agency wanted to cover and break the transmission of COVID-19 in the state.

“In the first year of the COVID-19, we had lots of hesitancy in terms of people hesitating to take the vaccines. It was a huge challenge. It slowed down the rate at which we wanted to cover and break the transmission of the COVID-19 in the state,” she said.

According to her, the state launched another campaign strategy which was the scale 2.0, meant to ramp up that coverage.

She added that the state government would deploy 592 teams of about 3,000 personnel for the campaign.

(NAN)