President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday received his third dose (booster shot) of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The booster shot was administered by his personal physician, Dr. Suhayb Rafindadi.
The President had received his first jab of the vaccine on March 6 and the second jab on May 29.
Speaking to State House Correspondents, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said the President was leading by example.
He also assured Nigerians that the booster dose of the Pfizer Biotech vaccine is safe and efficacious.
He said, “The significance of the shot this morning is that the father of the nation is leading by example. As usual, he is among the first people that have taken the booster dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.
“Again, to show clearly to all Nigerians that it is safe, it is efficacious, and now that over eight million Nigerians have been vaccinated, here is another proof that this vaccine is safe and it is a clarion call to all Nigerians to make themselves available to get the vaccine.”
The NPHCDA boss urged all those hesitating to take the vaccine to ignore conspiracy theories as the vaccine is safe for humans.
Meanwhile, analysis of the epidemiological reports on COVID-19 as of Tuesday has revealed that active cases in Nigeria have surpassed 10,000 amid concerns raised by the World Health Organisation over the high infection rate of the Omicron variant.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had on Monday announced a fourth wave of the virus in the country.
The centre had cited that the Delta and Omicron variants were spreading fast.
According to the NCDC, the country currently has 10,610 active cases.
State governments like those of Lagos and Plateau among others have increased vaccination drive. Though no restrictions have been announced by the Federal Government, the WHO on Tuesday said “difficult decisions must be made”.
According to the WHO chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus, delaying or cancellation of events was the best thing to do.
He said, “There is now ‘consistent evidence’ that the Omicron variant is outpacing Delta, as COVID-19 continues to account for around 50,000 deaths worldwide every week.
“There can be no doubt that increased social mixing over the holiday period in many countries will lead to increased cases, overwhelm health systems and more deaths.
“All of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family. All of us want to get back to normal.
“The fastest way to do that is for all of us – leaders and individuals – to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others. An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled. It is better to cancel now and celebrate later, than to celebrate now and grieve later.”
