Admin l Sunday, November 07, 2021
LAGOS, Nigeria – The Lagos State Government has developed a robust vaccination strategy, leveraging on both the strengths of the public and private sectors of the healthcare system as part of its mass vaccination exercise stressing that vaccines are now available at private facilities at N6000 per person for the mandatory two doses.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who made the revelation said that the vaccines however remain free in government owned facilities.
“However, those that wish to receive the vaccines within the comforts of a private facility can do so at a minimal administrative cost of N6,000 for two doses which covers the cost that the private sector will incur to facilitate the administration of the vaccine which includes logistics, personnel, quality oversight, administrative and overhead costs. The cost will be proportionally lower for single dose or those wishing to take a single booster dose”, he said.
He said no one is compelled to receive their vaccines at any private facility as the vaccines in both are of the same quality and brand.
“We have also invested in training of our public personnel so that the customer experience in our public facilities would be matched equally with that of the private sector. The decision to leverage on the private sector is based solely on our resolve to include private health facilities and corporate institutions as additional sites for the COVID-19 vaccination administration.
“This is in furtherance of effort to increase the reach and access to the available vaccines provided through the generous contributions and donations by the Federal Government and our donors. By doing this, we are once again recognizing the impact of the collaboration between the public and private sector for healthcare and strengthening the link for far-reaching initiatives in the State.
“We also understand that there are citizens, who for personal reasons, would prefer to receive the vaccine at the comfort of a private facility. It is important that such citizens should not be deprived access to the vaccine especially as this negates the principle of vaccine equity. Therefore, the involvement of the private sector is important.
“Those that require their vaccination at any of our public facilities should please visit the national platform at https://publicreg.vaccination.gov.ng to register and schedule their vaccination or register on arrival at any of the 206 public sites. However, those requiring vaccination at any of our selected private facilities should please, in addition, visit https://lagosvaccine.com to book and pay for their vaccination, either before or after registering on the national platform. Both the public and private facilities would also be available to assist Lagos residents to make these bookings, however, we strongly suggest that residents make these bookings before proceeding to their facility of choice to avoid overcrowding and delays. The list of public facilities is already in the public domain but republished here again. The list of private facilities in phase one of this process will be published in the next few days”, the commissioner said.
He emphasized that the COVID vaccines donated to Lagos by the Federal Government is FREE and its administration comes at no cost to citizens who visit any of the designated public vaccination sites located across the 57 local government areas and local council development areas of the State.
“It is equally important to mention that our public vaccination sites have the capacity to effectively administer the COVID vaccines on any person who visit irrespective of class, social or religion inclination or tribe”.
