Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State says his administration decided to delay the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the state due to negative reports about the jab.
Naija News reports that some European countries had suspended the use of the vaccine due to reports of blood clots experienced by some people being vaccinated.
However, the Nigerian Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) assured of the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Speaking on Wednesday during the flag-off of the vaccination exercise in Ibadan, the state capital, Makinde said the government had to buy drugs to treat the side effects reportedly associated with the vaccine.
Makinde said, “I wanted to validate that the vaccine that we’ll give to the people of Oyo State have been correctly handled.
“We tapped our labs here and they all came with the same result that the vaccine is good and proper for the consumption of the people of Oyo State.
“It didn’t take me 24 hours after that to accept and to agree to come for this exercise.”
The governor, however, promised that the state will immediately begin the vaccination exercise and meet up with its counterparts who have already started.
After the event, Makinde received his first dose of the vaccine and promised to curb the spread of coronavirus in the state.
He said, “When I was reading the newspaper this morning, I saw that they said Oyo State has not given a single shot of the vaccine. So, they recorded zero for Oyo State. Now, at least we have one.
“And for the states that have taken in their thousands, we always say that no be the man wey first call police na him dey win case (pidgin).
“They can be ahead, but we’ll surely overtake them very soon.”