Health

The Federal Government has revealed its plan of making COVID-19 vaccination a must for all Public and Civil servants in Nigeria. As they are ensuring the availability and accessibility of the vaccines before implementation. This was disclosed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the COVID-19 Presidential Steering Committee, Mr. Boss Mustapha in a conference organized by the Forum of Health Commissioner in Nigeria at the nation's capital.

The Director-General (DG) of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu has been appointed in the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Assistant Director-General of Health Emergency Intelligence.

The National Industrial Court (NIC), Abuja Division has instructed the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to shelve its ongoing nationwide strike, the Federal Government has said. An NIC judge, Justice John Targema, while ruling on an ex parte application filed by the Federal Government on Monday asked all parties in the suit to maintain status quo pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. As a result of the ruling, the government believes the doctors have been directed to resume work immediately, but the national leadership of the association says they have yet to receive any court order.

The wife of late former President Shehu Shagari, Hajiya Hadiza Shagari, has died as a result of COVID-19 complications. The sad development was announced on Thursday in a statement signed by Capt. Muhammad Bala Shagari (rtd). It was also shared on Facebook by Bello Bala Shagari, grandson to the late former president. According to the statement the National Mosque in Abuja will hold a funeral prayer for Hadiza, who died at the age of 80. “We regret to announce the demise of our beloved mother, Hajiya Hadiza Shehu Shagari, the wife of H.E late President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, GCFR (Turakin Sokoto),” the statement read.

The World Health Organization revealed it will soon commence a worldwide clinical trial of three new candidate drugs to find an effective treatment for COVID-19 treatment on Wednesday. The Global health agency under the Solidarity PIUS program, the therapies- artesunate, imatinib, and infliximab will undergo clinical trials on the hospitalized patients with COVID 19 virus in 52 countries after the world hit 200 million marks just last week.

The Federal Government has on Monday disclosed that the second batch of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise for the Moderna vaccines donated by the US government will commence on  August 16. The Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed made the disclosure on ta live National Television Authority (NTA) programme, saying the postponement of the vaccination exercise from August 10 to August 16 was based on administrative reasons.