States on Tuesday started receiving their consignments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine with Lagos collecting 507,000 doses, Nasarawa, 61,000; Ekiti, 52,960 and Ondo, 75,570.

Officials of the states disclosed these figures to The PUNCH in separate interviews just as one of our correspondents gathered that between 150,000 and 160,000 doses would be given to Katsina State.

A new report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has indicated that having a very low or very high body mass index (BMI) is a significant risk factor for a more severe COVID-19 infection.

According to the World Health Organisation, BMI is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters. 

The Lagos State Government says it will start rolling out COVID-19 vaccines by the weekend. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu disclosed this on Wednesday when the World Health Organisation Representative to Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, paid him a courtesy visit at the State House, Alausa.

In a series of tweets, Sanwo-Olu’s Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, via his Twitter handle @gboyegaakosile said a steering committee set up for the vaccine administration was in its final stage of preparation for the deployment of the vaccine.

Bauchi State Government says pregnant women, those under 18 years, and people with critical ailments will not receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the state. Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Bauchi on Thursday.

Mohammed said that the exclusion of these categories of people was part of the action plan developed for the exercise in the state. “Pregnant women, under 18 years of age and those with critical ailment will not be given the vaccine.

The United Kingdom has suspended the recruitment of healthcare workers from Nigeria and 46 other countries. The announcement was contained in the updated Code of Practice released by the UK Department of Health and Social Care.

According to the UK government, the increasing scale of health and social care worker migration from low and lower-middle-income countries threatens the achievement of their nation’s health and social care goals.

Denmark, Norway, and Iceland on Thursday temporarily suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over concerns about patients developing post-vaccine blood clots, as the manufacturer and Europe’s medicines watchdog insisted the vaccine was safe.

Denmark was first to announce its suspension, “following reports of serious cases of blood clots” among people who had received the vaccine, the country’s Health Authority said in a statement. It stressed the move was precautionary, and that “it has not been determined, at the time being, that there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots”.

European countries can keep using AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine during an investigation into cases of blood clots that prompted Denmark, Norway and Iceland to suspend jabs, the EU’s drug regulator said on Thursday.

There had been 30 cases of ‘thromboembolic events’ among five million people who’ve had the jab so far in Europe, the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement.

A Paediatrician, Dr. Ayobola Adebowale, has warned parents against using palm oil as a poison antidote for children. Adebowale, a Senior Registrar, Department of Paediatrics, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, said this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.

She decried the increasing incidents of admission of children in the Intensive Care Units of the hospital after aspirating on palm oil in a bid to induce vomiting after ingesting poisonous substances.

No fewer than 13 countries in Europe have temporarily suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following concerns about deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and blood clotting.

A professor of virology, Oyewale Tomori, speaks with DAYO OJERINDE on the suspension of the vaccine in some countries and the growing fears among Nigerians.

The Lagos State Government has released the list of 88 health facilities that have been selected to provide vaccination across the 20 Local Government Areas. The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, In a statement on Tuesday, said vaccination can only be obtained at any of the 88 accredited facilities are listed.

“Vaccination outside of these locations in Lagos State is highly prohibited and will attract heavy sanctions through our regulatory agencies,” he said. The commissioner said the vaccination will be conducted in four phases.