As preparations are in top gear for mass vaccination in Nigeria, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said COVID-19 cannot change the DNA of recipients.
There have been allegations that chips have been implanted into COVID vaccines.
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When he featured on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television breakfast programme, on Wednesday, Faisal Shuaib, Chief Executive Officer of NPHCDA, dismissed the allegations.
He said it is the responsibility of health workers and scientists to address any concern that Nigerians may have regarding the vaccine.
“We as health workers; we as scientists have been working in the last few years to make sure that we don’t take for granted any questions or concerns that Nigerians will have. It is our responsibility not to just offer the vaccine but we also have to put in the hard work to convince Nigerians, to provide them with the information around their questions. So is there a chip for example? No there is no chip in the vaccine. Is it possible that this will change your DNA? No, that doesn’t happen.”
”We have not already allotted these vaccines to the rich people or the people in the urban areas. Absolutely not. The president has been very clear and the vice-president has also added his voice. Chairman of the presidential task force (PTF) has communicated this, and in our PTF media briefing, we’ve made it very clear in terms of who we’re going to prioritise. The first group of people who are going to be taking this vaccine are the frontline health workers,” he said.
On Tuesday, Nigeria received its first batch of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine containing close to 4 million doses.
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