Bauchi State government on Wednesday received 150,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines allocated by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The Deputy Governor, Alhaji Baba Tela, said this while receiving the vaccines at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi.

Tela assured residents of the state that the government would soon commence the vaccination in line with the scheduled guidelines by NPHCDA.

He said that 80, 570 doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be administered to frontline health workers, government officials, traditional, religious leaders and security personnel.

Tela, also the Chairman of the state Task Force Committee on COVID-19 and Lassa fever, declared that “the vaccine is potent.’’

According to him, the vaccine has been administered across the world and all those who took it are doing well.

“The World Health Organisation has approved it, therefore, we in Bauchi are ready to take it,” the deputy governor said.

He further said that Gov. Bala Mohammmed, would lead other top government officials to take the vaccine after which others in the legislature and security would take their turns.

The deputy governor said that the vaccine would be distributed to the 20 Local Government Areas and 323 wards in the state where it would be administered to frontline health workers and other vulnerable people, including the aged and children.

He advised citizens to shun misinformation making the rounds about the vaccines, adding that it had been scientifically tested and certified fit for human use by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Tela assured that the quantity supplied to the state would be administered and urged the people not to be afraid but embrace the vaccine as the surest way of avoiding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking earlier, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA) said that the vaccines arrived late Tuesday night and was taken into the cold store to maintain its potency.

Mohammed added that the vaccines must be administered immediately in line with the direction of its usage, stressing that it was potent in fighting COVID-19 infection.

He assured the people that the government would ensure that the vaccine went round everybody in order to rid the state of COVID-19.