Nigeria received 3.9million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, courtesy of the COVAX facility in April 2020. With the arrival of the vaccines, the OPTS Medical Subcommittee led by Dr. Effiem Abbah of ExxonMobil engaged the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to prioritise Oil and Gas workers who had been identified as personnel critical to the country’s economy.
Following OPTS’ request, NPHCDA approved the vaccination of industry workers (full-time staff and their spouses, pensioners and their spouses, and contractors). A total of 18 member Companies participated in the OPTS vaccination campaign and a total of 3649 persons received the first dose between May 3 to May 8, 2021. The second dose campaign started on June 14 and will end on June 30, 2021. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total E&P and SPDC provided venues, logistics and administrative support towards the administration of the vaccines. The feedback from the member companies was encouraging with employees expressing their gratitude for the exercise.
We thank the OPTS Medical Subcommittee, NPHCDA and the host Companies for their concerted efforts in making the campaign a success.