The Lagos State Government had been able to vaccinate just about one per cent of its population, against a target of 60 per cent.

As such, the state government is considering other ways to source COVID-19 vaccines in order to achieve herd immunity against the pandemic for its population.

This is as Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, says the state recorded 25 COVID-19 related deaths and 401 infections from September 9 to September 11.

Abayomi disclosed this through his Facebook account @Profakinolaabayomi on Monday, while giving the state’s COVID-19 update for the reported days.

He said that between September 9 and 10; the state reported seven COVID-19 related deaths on each day, while it recorded 11 deaths on September 11.

According to him, the 25 recorded deaths increased the number of the state’s fatalities to 605.

The commissioner said that 7,380 COVID-19 tests were conducted on the reported dates from which 401 cases were confirmed positive.

He said that the new infections increased the number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 74,970.

Abayomi, in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja said: “If you vaccinate only 60 per cent of your population, the remaining 40 per cent remains vulnerable, and the virus can circulate within that 40 per cent and create new strains, which can then affect those that have been vaccinated.

“Countries are now talking about booster shots, whereas in Lagos, we haven’t been able to deliver more than one per cent of the population. We know that the vaccine campaign is critical, and to mitigate subsequent waves,” said the commissioner.

He added: “While the first national target of vaccination is 60 per cent, we in Lagos are looking for vaccines to create full coverage that will be safe.

“And even for children, as well as other immuno compromised individuals that do not fall into the normal criteria, as the pace at which we are going is extremely slow.

“We’re looking for avenues and activities to speed this up; donor partners, private sector, through advocacy because it appears that this virus is not going anytime soon.”

According to him, the Lagos state government does not want to slow down the economy of the state, “We want to create a situation where the economy is relatively opened so that people can move around and commercial activities go on.

“And it seems as if the way to go, apart from the standard Non-pharmaceutical interventions, is to have a very robust vaccination strategy.”

The health commissioner, speaking further, said Lagos was committed to achieving the target of 60 per cent as soon as possible.

“Under the guidance and regulation of the Federal Government regulatory agencies. And by whichever ways we can do that, we hope that we can speed things up.

“We’ve missed several opportunities in between the waves. Our third wave appears to be going down now, so we’re looking for this window of opportunity again to ramp up our vaccination strategy such that we use vaccination as mitigation of subsequent waves.

“This is the new frontier, knowing what this virus is doing, and you need to know how this virus is changing. If you want to be ahead of the game,” he said.

According to Abayomi, it is no longer all about Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing on positivity, but trying to understand the mutations as the virus moves from person to person.

“We know that we can’t easily ramp up because of human resource deficits, infrastructure deficits, financial deficits.

“And so it’s important that we understand what the next challenges will be with respect to how this virus is changing itself,” he stressed.

The commissioner stated that the government had acquired sequencing equipment, because it understood that Lagos State, being the most used port of entry into Nigeria, would always be very busy.

In the Facebook posting, Abayomi said that the state currently manages COVID-19 via home-based care, telemedicine and isolation for patients with severe cases.

He added that testing was ongoing in the state and had become a social responsibility.

According to him, the state’s Isolation Consortium has been able to isolate 5,602 passengers of interest till date.

The commissioner stressed that the state’s goal was to keep the economy open, while responding to the pandemic.

Abayomi noted that decisions and policies were constantly modified with consideration for the economy, residents and COVID-19 data trends.

Abayomi said that there were currently 217 positive cases in the state’s isolation centres and 2,345 active cases of the infection in various communities across the state.

He said that 4,959 COVID-19 patients, who had been successfully treated and recovered, have been discharged from the state’s isolation centres.

The commissioner noted that 66,844 persons, who were managed under the state’s home-based care, have recovered in the community.