Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has urged Nigerians to disregard any unfounded theories about the efficacy and effects of the COVID-19 vaccines on them saying it is unnecessary introducing sentiments to the health and well-being of the people for whatever reasons. The governor who received the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine alongside his deputy, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, and some frontline health workers on Wednesday emphasised that all hands must be on deck to ensure all indigenes know that the vaccine is safe. He spoke while flagging off the vaccination exercise in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. Fayemi who stated that his administration had put in place measures to ensure that residents have equitable access to the vaccine said, “The availability of COVID-19 vaccines and its glob...
The speaker of the house of representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has advised Nigerians not to believe conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccines. Many Nigerians are wary about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine amid unverified claims that it contains microchips. Faisal Shuaib, chief executive officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), had recently dismissed the claims as false. The first shipment of the vaccines– 3.9 million doses– arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday and the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine was administered today. Speaking at the national flag-off ceremony for the COVID-19 vaccination in Abuja, Gbajabiamila urged Nigerians to rally behind the federal government to fight the pandemic. He also cautioned against playing politics with the vaccinati...
Former pope Benedict has chided conservative Roman Catholics who have not accepted his decision to resign as “fanatical”, telling them that there is only one pope and it is Francis. Benedict, now 93, in 2013 became the first pope in more than 600 years to resign instead of ruling for life, saying he no longer had the strength to govern the 1.3 billion-member Church. Some hardline conservatives unhappy with the more liberal Pope Francis have often voiced doubts about whether Benedict stepped down willingly, even though he has said several times in the past eight years that he did. “It was a difficult decision. But it was a fully conscious choice and I think I did well (to resign),” he told Italy’s Corriere della Sera in a interview published on Monday. “Some of my more fanatical friends are...