The Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (EDSPHCDA) has called on stakeholders to support the government’s sensitisation campaign on behavioural change among residents, to increase uptake of the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine for maximum protection against coronavirus.
The Executive Secretary, EDSPHCDA, Dr. Eloghosa Obarisiagbon, made the appeal during an emergency meeting with the Disease Control and Immunization Department of the Agency, to seek ways to ensure maximum protection of Edo people against coronavirus.
Eloghosa said receiving the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine will not only boost the immune system but also provide long lasting immunity.
She noted that the first dose of the vaccine primes the immune system, alerts it of the presence of the virus in the human body and creates an antibody response, adding that the second dose acts as a booster to ensure immunity is long lasting.
The Executive Secretary urged for proper information on the need for the second dose of covid-19 vaccination be duly passed across Local Government Areas so that everyone who received the first dose of the vaccine can go to the nearest Primary Healthcare Centre closer to them to receive their second doses.
According to her, stakeholders need to do the needful as regards proper information and behavioural change so that people can change their attitude and resistance against receiving the second dose of Covid -19 vaccination.
She said the improvement in Covid-19 vaccination rate has risen up to five percent (5%) fully vaccinated and nine percent (9%) partially vaccinated, in the state.