The much awaited COVID-19 vaccines have landed in Nigeria.
The vaccines were brought into the country via Emirates flight B 777-300 which touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 11:35am.
Daily Trust had reported that 3.9 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the country from India, on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, said President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will be among the first set of Nigerians to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Speaking at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Shuaib said they will receive the vaccines on live television.
Shuaib had assured Nigerians that all necessary safety and quality control measures have been put in place for the arrival, storage and successful administration of the first batch of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is about 3,924,000 doses.
He said at the end of the ceremony to mark the arrival of the vaccines, a few vials of the vaccines would be handed over to the NAFDAC team which will analyse them over a period of two days (Wednesday, March 3 and Thursday, March 4).
“Further to the clearance by NAFDAC, the PTF, FMOH, NPHCDA and strategic leaders will be at the treatment centre of the National Hospital on Friday, March 5th 2021, where the first vaccination site will be set up to commence the vaccination of the frontline health workers and support staff,” he had said.
“These Staff would also be electronically registered in the COVID-19 vaccine database and would receive their COVID-19 vaccination card which has a QR code that can be verified worldwide.
“On Saturday, March 6th, key strategic leaders will receive the first dose of the vaccine,” Faisal said.
