Lagos State Government has revealed plans to set up a world-class vaccine research centre and mental health facility.
The facilities, the state commissioner for information and strategy Gbenga Omotosho said on Thursday, are part of the government’s approach to avoid depending on western nations for COVID-19 vaccines.
Speaking at the fifth annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) in Lagos, Mr Omotosho, who represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the state government also disbursed over N1 billion to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) affected by the pandemic through the Lagos State Employment Trust.
Omotosho was emphatic that businesses are gradually coming back to life even as he conceded that full recovery would be difficult to predict given the still dangerous mode of the virus.
“During the outbreak of the pandemic, the Lagos State Government set up the Lagos Incident Command to collate vital information and data on the pandemic and thereafter kept Lagosians informed on regular basis. Today, we have 150 vaccination centres from the initial 65 as well as stepped up advocacy on the need for Lagosians to go for vaccination,” he said.
The commissioner lamented that Africa has been unable to achieve herd immunity, which translates to 60 per cent vaccination of the population partly due to fake news and conspiracy theories about the pandemic on the continent.
“We have the problem of fake news of the vaccine killing people and therefore not the solution to the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why we appreciate the support of the media in terms of information dissemination about the pandemic. We also need such critical support to combat the fake news about the virus, vaccination and recovery from the pandemic,” he said.
Omotosho congratulated the executive team and members of GOCOP for the conference and pledged the support of the state government going forward.
