Dr. Rasheed Odunola, the Director of University of Ilorin Health Services, has encouraged Nigerians to get vaccinated because COVID-19 has become a disease of the unvaccinated people.
Odunola gave the advice on Monday while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on the pandemic.
He said that Nigerians and Africans are indeed lucky not to have witnessed surge in COVID cases as seen in the developed countries.
The Director appealed to Nigerians, most especially members of the university community, not to be too complacent over taking the vaccine.
He explained that research has shown that the anti-COVID-19 vaccine is effective in lowering risk of contracting and spreading the virus, adding that majority of the victims of the pandemic in recent times, are the unvaccinated people.
Commenting on the life expectancy of average Nigerians, the medical doctor lamented that while people in the USA, UK, Hong Kong and most developed countries enjoy life expectancy of above 70 years, that of Nigeria is reducing.
Using the 2021 data released by the World Health Organisation, Odunola said Nigerian women are expected to live longer than their male counterparts at 55 years against 53 years for men.
He blamed the reason for the short life expectancy prediction on the attitude of Nigerians to their health, food and environment, urging the people to imbibe a healthy life style to live longer.
Besides, Odunola appealed to residents to avail themselves of COVID-19 vaccination centres across the state to get immunised against the deadly pandemic.