The Federal Government, on Monday, said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic effects in the country, it would continue to strengthen the routine immunization of other communicable diseases.
Health minister Osagie Ehanire, represented by the Minister of State, Olorunnimbe Mamora, said this in Abuja at the 60th joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
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According to him, the pandemic has further underscored the importance of immunization and vaccination to good health and that strengthening routine immunization shall continue to receive attention especially as Nigeria will receive her polio-free certification this week.
“We shall not lose sight of the fact that COVID-19 is not the only health challenge faced by our people. We shall, therefore, ensure that routine services are strengthened.
“Therefore, on Friday, 21st August 2020, I had the pleasure of commissioning 456 Motorcycles and Computers meant to enhance the Routine Immunization Officers ability for supportive supervision of service providers, and support the generation and on-site utilisation of programme data to continuously improve the quality of the immunization programme in Nigeria,” Mamora said.
He also said that as of Monday 24th August 2020, Nigeria sadly lost over 1,000 persons to COVID-19 with a total of 1002 deaths.
According to him, each one of those persons lost was a family member and a loved one to several people.
While reiterating the importance of adhering to the non-pharmaceutical interventions to curb the virus, the minister added that Nigeria also recorded 52,227 COVID-19 positive cases out of 379,542 samples tested so far and treated and discharged 38,945 persons.
“As we continue to learn from our experience from managing COVID-19, the need to improve quality of care, health system strengthening, and seamless patient evacuation especially in emergency situations has become crucial.
“We shall, therefore, continue to review and strive for improvement in the treatment of COVID-19 symptomatic cases, older adults, and those with already existing medical conditions with the view to reducing our case fatality rate,” he said.
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