The Federal Government will soon make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for civil servants in the country, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has said.
Mustapha, who is also chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19 (PSC), said this on Thursday at a meeting of the health commissioners’ forum in Abuja.
He said the government wants civil servants to be vaccinated, considering that they sometimes represent Nigeria abroad, adding that some countries have banned unvaccinated persons is one of the reasons civil servants should embrace vaccination.
“You should, in the course of this meeting, deliberate on the challenges caused by vaccine hesitancy all over the country. It is expected that you will come with policy alternatives as solutions,”
Mustapha said.
“Let me state, however, that the federal government shall, very shortly, unveil its decision on mandatory vaccination for every employee in its service.
“One of the reasons why we want to do that with the federal civil service is because they will be travelling on behalf of the nation.
“Assuming the American government said, ‘you can’t come into their country unless you’re vaccinated’, you have to be vaccinated.
“It is a sequential thing, and we are taking one step at a time, because we realise we don’t have sufficient vaccines in the country at the moment.”