 The Edo state government has cleared the air over what it described as the purported compulsory vaccination of its residents with the COVID-19 vaccine. In a statement signed on Wednesday, Governor Gaudi Nobazaki said it was an obvious misconception that the directive issued by the government was to make a vaccination compulsory for all citizens. Governor Bazaki had given residents up to the second week of September to get a vaccine or risk being barred from public places such as banks, receptions, churches and mosques. But in Wednesday's statement, the governor said the order which was given last Friday was at best speculative and pre-emptive as a shadow date for the commencement of the enforcement of the directive by the state government is the second week of September. He said this in reaction to an order by a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt River State directing the government to maintain the status quo on the purported compulsory vaccination.