Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi has reiterated that the first phase of the ongoing COVID vaccination exercise in the State is strictly for health workers, frontline staff and essential duty personnel.

Abayomi, who made this known today while making clarifications on those eligible to take part in phase one of the vaccination campaign, noted that ONLY healthcare workers; COVID-19 response team (RRT); ports of entry staff in air, land, and seaports; laboratory network; judiciary; military, police, other security agencies; petrol station workers; teachers; press and other frontline workers are eligible for vaccination in the first phase exercise currently taking place Statewide.

His words: “The need to make this clarification has become very critical to the success of the vaccination campaign in order to prevent imminent chaos that may result from a situation of overcrowding at the vaccination sites”.

“We have noticed a high turnout of citizens, who do not fit into the eligibility category of phase one, turning out at various approved vaccination sites to get vaccinated. While this is a good indication of citizens’ acceptance of the vaccine, we will however not jettison our strategic vaccination plan which has been scheduled in four phases for sentiments in order to achieve the overall objective of the campaign”, Abayomi said.

While advising citizens who are not captured in the eligibility list of phase one to await commencement of the phase they fit into, the Commissioner hinted that a smooth transition to other phases of the vaccination campaign is being worked out to ensure everyone captured in the four phases of the campaign are vaccinated.

“To access the COVID vaccine, eligible citizens who fit into phase one eligibility list must proceed to register or enrol for the vaccine via the self-registration portal: https://www.nphcdaict.com.ng or https://www.vaccination.gov.ng.

“A vaccination ID will be generated, and a confirmation text message and email will be sent to each enrollee. After successfully registering for the vaccination, successful enrollees should then proceed to any of the 88 vaccination sites picked at the point of registration with the vaccination ID, the confirmation text along with a means of ID to get the first dose of the vaccine.

“Enrolees will be issued a green COVID vaccination card which has a barcode as confirmation of vaccination immediately after receiving the vaccine and scheduled for a second dose for complete protection.

“Although the registration portal is open to the public, ONLY eligible participants within phase one should register for the vaccination now. More information on the vaccination of other participants in phases two to four will be communicated subsequently”, Abayomi explained.

The Commissioner appealed to persons eligible for phase one, who will be visiting the approved 88 vaccination sites after online registration, to conduct themselves properly at the site, cooperate with the vaccination officials and adhere strictly to COVID-19 protocols and non-pharmaceutical interventions of physical distancing, use of face mask and hand hygiene at the locations.