The National Primary Health Care Development Agency and Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund met in Abuja on Wednesday to evaluate the 20 21 COVID-19 support programme.
This was as states demanded more funding for COVID-19 vaccination and a steady supply of vaccines to prevent stockouts.
The NSSF and NPHCDA entered a partnership in September 2021 to support the COVID-19 vaccination campaign across the country.
The goal was to vaccinate a total of one million Nigerians in six states; Edo, Ogun, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Katsina, and Imo against COVID-19.
The groups noted that the campaign, though largely successful, has not been without challenges, hence, a joint evaluation meeting was conducted by the NPHCDA and NSSF to identify these challenges.
The meeting, which held in Abuja, had representatives of NPHCDA, NSSF, and the state primary healthcare development agencies of the six supported states present.
Bassey, who gave the opening remarks, charged all stakeholders present to understand the current COVID-19 vaccination landscape in Nigeria and to project achievements across the six supported states.
The evaluation meeting brought to light challenges faced by the six supported states, provided an open floor for shared learning across the states, and paved the way forward for the next phase of funding support by NSSF.
Some of the successes experienced by the different states could be explained in terms of increased uptake of the vaccination or developing local solutions to tackle community problems.
Katsina State was acknowledged for performing better in vaccine uptake than the other five states, despite the current security unrest.
Nasarawa set the benchmark for all other states to follow as a leading state in vaccination uptake.
The meeting ended with the states advocating for more funding for COVID-19 vaccination and a steady supply of vaccines to prevent stock outs, while also promising accountability and accurate reporting of any funds received.
