By Doris Obinna, Lagos

Lagos State Commissioner for Health Prof Akin Abayomi has urged citizens who fit into phase one of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination exercise to register on the dedicated COVID-19 vaccination self-registration portal before visiting any of the 88 vaccination sites. According to the commissioner, e-registration is now a mandatory protocol for vaccination in Lagos.

Abayomi, who disclosed this today after reviewing the modalities for the implementation of the vaccination campaign, stated that eligible persons that fit into phase one of the exercise are expected to pre-register on https://www.nphcdaict.com.ng or https://www.vaccination.gov.ng and fill the electronic form with their qualifying verifiable details, preferred vaccination site, date, and time.

‘Qualifying persons for vaccination should pre-register 24 to 48 hours before their intended date of vaccination.’

This, he noted, is geared towards ensuring a strictly scheduled vaccination exercise that is efficient, swift, seamless and devoid of delay and overcrowding at the vaccination sites.

‘We encourage all Lagosians hoping to be vaccinated according to the qualification criteria for Phase One to strictly utilize the pre-registration portal provided by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and get a schedule vaccination appointment before visiting the vaccination site as scheduled.’

Abayomi explained that after a successful pre-registration, a vaccination ID will be generated by the portal with a confirmation text message and email sent to each enrollees who are qualified to get the vaccine.

‘The generated pre-registration ID, confirmation text message and a valid means of Identification are the only guarantee that an eligible person who fit into Phase One of vaccination exercise would be attended to when they visit any of the 88 vaccination sites as scheduled, to get the COVID vaccines.’

While frowning at the report that suggest that citizens who do not fit into phase one of the vaccination campaign are daily crowding the vaccination sites to get vaccinated, Abayomi warned such people to stay clear the vaccination sites adding that the state government will no longer tolerate any action that is inimical to the success of the vaccination campaign.

‘We will in the long run vaccinate everybody and we plan to move from Phase One to other phases as quickly as we can. But citizens need to support our quest to successfully implement this exercise by adhering strictly to our guidelines and instructions.

‘We cannot do this on our own and this is why we are appealing to Lagosians to stay the course and stick to the guidelines which we have set out. This guidelines are for the overall public good and we will ensure its full implementation in the interest of our citizens.

‘The electronic registration portal is open to the public, Abayomi noted however that only eligible participants within phase one should register for the vaccination now. He disclosed that information on the vaccination of other participants in Phases two to Phase four will be released subsequently.

‘We have decided that pre-registration must be done before anyone can visit the vaccination sites. Our vaccination teams have been informed and mandated to attended only to eligible persons with a registration ID, confirmation text message and valid means of Identification. I therefore implore persons who are eligible to take part in the Phase One of the exercise to ensure they fulfill this criteria before visiting our sites,’ he added.