The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has said that the federal government will ensure the involvement of religious leaders in sensitising their followers on the need to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Mr Mustapha who was speaking at the second phase of the sensitisation of Muslim scholars and imams on the COVID-19 vaccination organised by the Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in Abuja, said government would ensure that leaders at all levels took the vaccine as example to the people they lead.
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He commended the Islamic scholars for their support, adding that as leaders of the Islamic faith and custodians of Islamic principles, they should sensitise their followers that the vaccine was safe and effective as confirmed by the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He said Nigeria hoped to vaccinate about 70 per cent of its citizens between 2021 and 2022.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said there was the need to reassure Nigerians on the safety of the vaccine, adding that the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine by some countries did not disqualify the vaccine’s usage.
The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Muhammad Sa’ad, also urged the scholars to go back to their constituencies and discuss the safety of the vaccine.
