See the States in Nigeria where Compulsory Vaccination will not be enforced.

Some states have stated that they will not force anyone to take the Covid-19 vaccine, despite the Federal Government’s worry over many Nigerians’ unwillingness to take the vaccine and its determination to impose sanctions on anyone who refuse the vaccination once it is made available to everybody.

Enugu, Taraba, Cross River, Ogun, Bauchi, and Abia are among the states that have declared they will continue to appeal to their populations to get the vaccine rather than imposing punitive measures.

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Concerned about the low vaccination rate across the country and the deadly nature of the Delta variant that has emerged, the Federal Government stated that it was looking into ways to make vaccines more accessible to all Nigerians and that it would not hesitate to “apply the basic rule of law” against people who refused the vaccine because they would endanger the lives of others.

On August 31, Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, stated that “The Presidential Steering Committee and the Federal Ministry of Health are exploring ways to make vaccines more accessible to all Nigerians, including federal civil servants and corporate entities.”

“Once these vaccines are made equitably available to all Nigerians, then we will need to have a frank discussion about justice, fairness and liberty that exist around vaccine hesitancy.

If some individuals refuse to take the vaccine, hence endangering those who have or those who could not due to medical exemptions, then we have to apply the basic rule of law, which stipulates that your human right stops where mine begins.

“So, you have a right to refuse vaccines, but you do not have the right to endanger the health of others.”

Meanwhile, the six states ruled out such measures, saying they would continue to appeal to their residents.

Mr Chidi Aroh, the Commissioner for Information and spokesperson for the state Action Committee on Covid-19 in Enugu State, assured one of our correspondents in an interview that the state would protect the fundamental rights of all residents.

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He added, “I know that in Enugu State, we encourage people to take vaccine but rest assured that in encouraging people to take vaccine, Enugu is a state that is guided by the law. We are going to respect the fundamental rights of everybody as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“So, in all we do, we will be guided by the process of the law and the administration will do everything within the extant laws. However, we say that it is proper for people to go and get vaccinated but we will not do what is illegal to get people vaccinated.”