3rd wave: Edo to sanction vaccine-hesitant teachers, health workers
By Mudiaga Affe
The Edo State Government on Thursday issued a stern warning to teachers and other public servants to get themselves vaccinated with at least a dose of the available vaccines or they might be prevented from performing their official duties.
The government also said any health worker that refuses to be vaccinated will not be allowed to attend to any patient.
The warning was issued during a press briefing on the COVID-19 update in Benin City by the Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Health, Osamwonyi Irowa.
Irowa said the state government must protect the public and if workers under the government payroll continued to resist taking the vaccine, then they would need to decide “whether they want to go to work or work from home.”
This came just as three new unvaccinated persons have in the last 24 hours died of COVID-19 in Edo State thus bringing the total fatality to 33 in the third wave of the pandemic.
However, Irowa reiterated that once the enforcement of COVID-19 vaccination started by September 15, those unvaccinated workers would not be allowed to enter government offices.
He said, “The State government is giving a period of grace till the middle of this month to start maximum enforcement and we are starting with our home, that is workers in government facilities, including teachers, health workers, will be made to comply based on whether they want to continue working or not.
“Teachers are more at risk to COVID-19 than the children and we don’t want them to infect the children they are teaching who will, in turn, take it home to their parents. The teachers who are not vaccinated are taking chances and we know they have their rights and we are not going to compel them, but if you aren’t vaccinated, you can’t teach our kids.
“So, the government is coming out clearly on enforcement of all the preventive measures, including vaccination and Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions. Those who do not perform these cannot come into the domain of government properties”, Irowa warned.
The Permanent Secretary further said, “Health workers are not free from COVID-19 and we have been infected. The rules that will be enforced in Edo State will also apply to health workers and not just teachers and civil servants. Health workers who have not been vaccinated will not be allowed to treat other people in Edo State because you may infect your patients.”
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Also speaking at the briefing, a representative of the Africa Centre for Disease Control in Edo State, Pius Ononigwe, said, “At least 93,000 people had gotten at least a dose of COVID-19 vaccines, representing 2 percent of the estimated 4.6 million population of the state.
On his part, Team Lead, State’s COVID-19 Case Management, Ebomwonyi Osagie, said that the state had confirmed 49 news cases, discharged 15 persons, and recorded three news deaths in the last 24 hours.
Ebomwinyi added that the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the third wave had risen to 33 comprising, 22 males and 11 females.
