A medical doctor, Ngong Cyprian, has become the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria.
Dr Cyprian has been a frontline health worker since March 2020 – days after the first case of the disease was reported in the country.
He took the jab on Friday in Abuja at the flag-off of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise in Nigeria, an event organised by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
“You can see, I just took the vaccine now and I feel good. I have dreamt of taking the vaccine and I have taken the vaccine today. We’ve been at the forefront of the COVID-19 fight here in National Hospital at the Isolation Centre under the able leadership of the National Hospital,” said the medical doctor.
He added, “They’ve provided everything we need for this fight. We’ve lost some, we’ve got some and we are happy we are getting the vaccines now in Nigeria.
“I think that is about the best news we’ve heard since. I only wished my dad had had this vaccine, maybe months ago or so. We lost him but we thank God, and the fight is still on and we will win.”
The vaccine was administered to Dr. Cyprian by the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, at the National Hospital in the nation’s capital.
Shortly after he took the vaccine, Dr. Cyprian was presented with an electronic card that has a QR code.
According to Dr Shuaib, the code contains the information of recipients of vaccines and is needed to verify details of such persons, especially for the purpose of travelling out of the country.
“It shows exactly what vaccines he (Cyprian) has taken; when he took the first and the second doses, and it will also show his photograph.
“This is also an electronic card as it were because of the QR code. This card also contains the exact batch number of the vaccines that he has taken,” he told the gathering at the event.
The NPHCDA boss noted that more health workers were being trained to make them perfect in what they do not just in Abuja, but across the country.
Another medical practitioner, Dr Sahil Yunusa, and two other health workers joined Dr Cyprian as the first set of people to take the vaccines in Nigeria.
Dr Yunusa works at the isolation centre in Gwagwalada in Abuja, where the lives of 10,549 COVID-19 patients are said to have been saved.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
