Nigeria: PWDs and Access to Covid-19 Vaccines

By Development Diaries
August 26, 2021

The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) says no person living with disability (PLWs) in Lagos State has had access to Covid-19 vaccine based on its research.

The study, Assessment of Access to Covid-19 Vaccines among Persons with Disabilities in Lagos State, found none of the 100 PWD clusters in the state involved or engaged in any of the Covid-19 vaccine programmes or activities of the government in the state.

At the presentation of the report findings, the CDD Executive Director, David Anyaele, said the state government failed to make specific provisions for the PWDs.

Anyaele, who said that the research was carried out in collaboration with Ford Foundation, noted that there were no specific policy guidelines for the PWDs in most of the Covid-19 vaccine centres in Lagos.

The report, according to him, found that socio-economic benefits of using the vaccine certificate for job-related sports and job related activities increased the personal interest of some PWDs in accessing the vaccine.

Over 25 million people with disabilities are in Africa’s most populous nation, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

‘Instructively, more than [two] million of them are in Lagos. Regrettably, studies from the existing literature articulate how PWDs in Nigeria have continued to witness discrimination, exclusion, denial of priority in public space and subjected to various physical, structural, communication and institutional barriers in accessing health and social services in the country’, Anyaele stated.

‘From studies conducted, 100 percent of all the PWDs head clusters in Lagos indicated that none of them has been engaged or involved in any of the Covid-19 vaccine government engagement/forum.

‘This has further promoted institutional discrimination against PWDs in accessing Covid-19 vaccine in Lagos’.

He also said, ‘There are no specific policy guidelines for the issues of critical concern of PWDs in most of the Covid-19 vaccine centres in Lagos.

‘For instance, PWDs interviewed reported that there were no sign language interpreters for the hearing impaired clusters.

‘Priority was not given to PWDs with hidden disabilities (hearing impaired and Albinos) on a queue and many vaccine centres are not accessible to PWDs on wheelchairs or those using crutches’.

The CDD urged the state’s Primary Health Care Board (PHCB) to collaborate with LASODA to build the capacity of managers, administrators and field health care workers.

In his response to the findings, a director at the Lagos State Ministry of Information, Adesegun Ogundeji, said the state government always prioritises inclusion in its programmes and activities.

Ogundeji, who represented the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, said, ‘Covid-19 vaccination centres are either located in open spaces accessible by everyone or health facilities where appropriate provisions for the PWDs had been in existence even before the vaccination campaign’.

He also said that the creation of the Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs (LASODA) and the enactment of the state’s special people’s law of 2011 were enough evidence to prove the state’s commitment to the welfare of PWDs.

Source: CCD