By Peter Egwuatu

In a bid to ramp up the vaccination of people against the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, Sterling Bank Plc has announced a partnership with the Lagos State Government to launch a vaccination campaign that will enable individuals to book for their vaccinations at private hospitals. 

By visiting:sterling.ng/vax, individuals, as well as organisations are now able to book for vaccinations for themselves and their workers respectively.

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In speaking about the Private Sector Participation, the Honorable Commissioner of Health for Lagos State noted that this is an opportunity for every responsible Citizen in Lagos State to get vaccinated. According to Prof. Abayomi, “In light of the impending new 4th wave and the emergence of new variants such as the Omicron, this is an opportunity for us to raise our immunity against the effects of the COVID-19 virus as vaccination remains our singular most effective defense against the severe complications of COVID.”

The Honorable Commissioner further said that he hopes that leaders of private sector organizations will through this means ensure that their staff get vaccinated.

In a statement signed by the Divisional Head, Health and Education sectors of Sterling Bank,  Mr. Obinna Ukachukwu, said that the bank remains committed to the prioritization of health as one of the pillars of its strategic pillars.

The statement explained that the new initiative will help to increase and improve access to COVID-19 vaccines as individuals and organisations are now better equipped to get vaccinations with minimal delays.

According to the statement, health is one of the five sectors in which Sterling Bank is presently concentrating investments under its HEART’s of Sterling programme, with the other sectors being Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation.  The statement noted that this initiative is another deliberate step in the bank’s holistic approach to responding to the coronavirus pandemic because of its commitment to the prioritization of health among its social investment programmers.

The statement added that the bank also supported the country’s first COVID-19 drive-through mass mobile testing centre with an investment in the automation of the online registration portal for inbound travellers to book their COVID-19 tests at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA).

Besides this, the bank also donated to the Health Workers’ Fund initiated by the crowdfunding platform, Giving.ng, and as a member of the Coalition of Partners for National COVID-19 Summit, is geared to contribute to conversations and design plans to chart Nigeria’s ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the years, Sterling has emerged as a market leader in the business of health in Nigeria because of its partnerships with various players in the