19/03/21

DANIELS. G.O

PRESS RELEASE

ONLY HEALTH AND FRONTLINE WORKERS WILL BE ACCOMODATED IN PHASE ONE OF COVID VACCINATION EXERCISE – ABAYOMI

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

Abayomi who made this known today while making clarification on those eligible to take part in the phase one of the vaccination campaign noted that ONLY healthcare workers; COVID-19 response team (RRT); ports of entry staff in air,
land, and sea ports; 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 of exercise currently taking place statewide.

“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 over crowding at the vaccination sites.

“We have noticed a high turn out of citizens who doesn’t 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 on to ensure everyone captured in the four phases of campaign are vaccinated.

“To access the COVID vaccine, eligible citizens who fit into the 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, 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 recieving 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 eligible persons in 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 hygine at the sites.

Signed

Tunbosun Ogunbanwo
Director Public Affairs
19th February, 2020

12/03/21

DANIELS G.O

GOVERNOR SANWO -OLU URGE RESIDENTS TO DESIST FROM DAMAGING RUMOURS

Lagos state on Friday began the covid-19 vaccination Exercise with About 507 thousand doses allocated to the state.

The Commissioner for Health Prof Akin Abayomi was the first person to receive the vaccine, followed by the State Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu, the Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, before other health workers.

Pregnant women and Children under 18 years are not to take part in the vaccine.

The Governor urged people to take advantage of the opportunity and stop spreading negative rumours about the vaccines

03/03/21

DANIELS G. O

WORLD COLORECTAL CANCER DAY

Cancer of the Colon ,COLORECTAL or Rectum is located at the digestive tracts lower End.

COLORECTAL Cancer is the most frequent type of malignant Tumor And 2nd To take more lives.

This type of Cancer Begins most times without symptoms but can be detected Early through regular screening

More Than one Hundred thousand cases of COLORECTAL Cancer Cases are recorded annually in Nigeria.

An Estimated 149,500 People are projected to be diagnosed with this highly preventable Disease

Age is A Risk Factor For Colon COLORECTAL Cancer as 94 Percent of cases are diagnosed in people Above 50 years of Age.

If detected Early, COLORECTAL Cancer is treatable that is why much effort is devoted to awareness campaign especially on a day like this and in the month of March which is the National COLORECTAL Cancer Awareness Month.

***Awareness of the symptoms and signs of colorectal cancer is lifesaving, prudent and significantly saves you a lot of money.

A case in point is a friend of mine who called me during the COVID–19 lockdown last year. He had been unwell since Christmas of 2019. He said he had experienced significant weight loss over a 3-month period. Hitherto, he was on treatment for recurrent abdominal pain for about 2 years and had been treated a number of times for typhoid and malaria.

He denied a history of significant change in bowel habit.

He couldn’t affirm if he had a family history of bowel cancer.
He never had the abdominal pain comprehensively evaluated as he was just consuming anti-ulcer medications in addition to anti typhoid and anti malaria medications.

During the COVID 19 lockdown the mode of patient consultation was telemedicine, so he was just instructed to do a computerized tomography scan (CT) of the abdomen. The CT scan revealed a tumour in the colon (left side).

A colonoscopy was performed on him, to visualize the tumour and a biopsy was taken.

This confirmed the colorectal cancer.The red flags in his clinical history were abdominal pain and significantly more worrisome the dramatic weight loss. Subsequently, he was operated upon.

During his operation, the findings were extremely disheartening as the cancer had also spread to his liver.

The cancerous tumor in the left colon was removed to prevent it from causing an obstruction. After his discharge, he started chemotherapy, which was essentially palliative care, making him comfortable without the possibility of a cure.

There was nothing more we could do because of the extent of the cancer spread. He spent about N5 million on chemotherapy over a 6-month period but eventually died.

Unfortunately, this sad tale is very common but could have been averted if the earlier signs had been comprehensively evaluated.

He was treated for 2-3 years for abdominal pain assumed to be ulcer (peptic ulcer disease) without any test (endoscopy) done.
What are the lessons from this depressing tale? – Awareness of the red flag symptoms and signs of colorectal cancer:

***PAYING ATTENTION TO RED FLAGS

“If you have any of the red flags, do not ignore your symptoms no matter what your age is:

• Recurrent or persistent abdominal pains

• Rectal bleeding or blood in stool

• Change in bowel habits- change in the color, size, shape, narrowing of stool.

• Unintentional weight loss.

• Persistent abdominal discomfort, feeling bloated, cramps or excessive gas

• Weakness or fatigue

Reduce your risk by employing the following strategies:

1. Eat a healthy diet: increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables and
reduce consumption of red meat and fatty meals

2. Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active. 30 minutes brisk walking 5–

7 days in a week.

3. If you have any of the above warning signs please see a General Surgeon
(Colorectal)

4. Know your family history of cancers. If you have a family history of colorectal cancer, you must have a colonoscopy done.

5. Never trivialise any changes in your bodily function.

6. Do not ascribe increasing difficulty in passing stool to change in your diet or
ageing.

7. Screen yourself annually for bowel cancer by doing any of the following tests

a) Faecal occult blood test (FOBT)

b) Faecal immunochemical test (FIT)

8. If any of the above test is positive, this will make a colonoscopy necessary.

While we commemorate this day, we should be aware of the symptoms and educate others on Colorectal Cancer and need to screen oneself annually.

Dr Adedapo Osinowo
Consultant General Surgeon (Colorectal) LUTH .Idi -Araba . Lagos . Nigeria.

92/03 /21

PUBLISHER: DANIELS G.O

3.92 MILLION DOSES OF THE ASTRA ZENECA COVID -19 VACCINES ARRIVED NIGERIA TUESDAY VIA THE NMADI AZIKIWE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ABUJA ON BOARD A BOEING 777300 ER AIRCRAFT AT ABOUT 11.36 AM.

THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE PTF ON COVID-19 HAD ON MONDAY HINTED DURING THE PTF BRIEFING THAT NIGERIA IS EXPECTING THREE TYPES OF VACCINES TO CATER FOR THE NEEDS OF NIGERIANS.

02/03/21

DANIELS G.O

PRESS RELEASE

Washington, DC, March 1, 2021 (PAHO/WHO)- Colombia Tuesday became the first country in the Americas to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility, marking an historic step toward the goal of ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the region and worldwide.
The delivery is part of the “First Wave” initiative, a global pilot program in which some countries receive early delivery of a limited number of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as part of their total allotted quota. More doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines are expected to arrive in coming weeks in the 36 countries participating in the mechanism in the region.
“Colombia, with support from Washington, DC, March 1, 2021 (PAHO/WHO)- Colombia today became the first country in the Americas to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility, marking an historic step toward the goal of ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the region and worldwide.
The delivery is part of the “First Wave” initiative, a global pilot program in which some countries receive early delivery of a limited number of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as part of their total allotted quota. More doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines are expected to arrive in coming weeks in the 36 countries participating in the mechanism in the region.
support from COVAX partners, has worked incredibly hard to be in a position to be able to receive its first wave of vaccines from COVAX, and I pay tribute to all of those who have prepared diligently for this arrival,” said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The arrival means that more health workers and high-risk populations can begin to be vaccinated. The COVID-19 pandemic can only end if vaccination occurs in an equitable way, and I am truly delighted to see vaccine doses in South America and other regions begin to be rolled out this week through COVAX.”
The 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that arrived today at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, the nation’s capital, mark the beginning of the deployment of COVAX-procured vaccines in Latin America and come about one year after the first case was detected in the region.
During an event to announce the arrival of the vaccines in Colombia, President Iván Duque said, “Today marks a very important milestone, today COVAX makes its first delivery in the Western Hemisphere, and the first country to receive it is Colombia. We appreciate the joint, combined, and articulated work (with PAHO/WHO, Gavi, and COVAX partners).”
Asserting that Colombia is committed to multilateralism, Colombian president Duque said that with this first delivery in the region “it is clear that COVAX is active and works,”
and called on “all of us to accelerate the distribution of vaccines through COVAX in the Americas.”

The COVAX vaccines add to the vaccination campaign that the Colombian government started on Feb. 17 with doses obtained from bilateral agreements with the producers. Colombia expects to receive 20 million doses of vaccines through COVAX in 2021.
With more than 50 million confirmed cases and more than 1.2 million deaths, countries of the Americas have experienced the worst impact of the pandemic. The region will need to immunize approximately 700 million people to control the pandemic.

“The arrival of these first doses
The arrival The arrival of these first doses in Colombia through the COVAX Facility is an encouraging step in the fight against this virus in the Americas,” said Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Carissa F. Etienne. “In a context where the availability of doses is still very limited, PAHO will continue to support the great efforts of countries in the region to obtain as many vaccines as soon as possible.”

In addition to Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, and Bolivia are expected to receive Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines soon as part of COVAX’s “First Wave” initiative. The countries must finalize the administrative, legal and regulatory requirements to move forward with the process.

Following the recent WHO emergency use listing of two versions of AstraZeneca/Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine, all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to begin of these first doses in Colombia through the COVAX Facility is an encouraging step in the fight against this virus in the Americas,” said Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Carissa F. Etienne. “In a context where the availability of doses is still very limited, PAHO will continue to support the great efforts of countries in the region to obtain as many vaccines as soon as possible.”