Nigeria to receive 41m COVID-19 vaccine doses

Nigeria will receive 41,282,770  doses of Oxford/Astrazeneca, Pfizer-Bio-N Tech, and Johnson & Johnson  COVID-19 vaccines between this July and September,  the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said.

The Executive Director of the agency, Faisal Shuaib, said the vaccines were donated by the COVAX facility, United States Government, and the African Union Commission.

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Briefing newsmen on Tuesday during the organisation’s weekly COVID-19 vaccination update, he said the federal government will commence the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the next few weeks.

He said, “We have received communication for the delivery of the following vaccine shipments in the coming months:

• 3,924,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca/Moderna by end of July or early August 2021 from the COVAX facility.
• 3,930,910 doses of Pfizer-Bio-N Tech/Moderna COVID-19 vaccine  in August from the COVAX facility donated by the United States Government.
• 3,577,860  doses of Pfizer-Bio-N Tech COVID-19 vaccine in Q3 from the COVAX facility.
• 29,850,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson (Jassen) COVID-19 vaccine by the end of September, that will arrive in batches from the African Union Commission

He said during the first phase, the country successfully vaccinated 3,938,945 eligible persons across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), representing 98 per cent utilization of the 4,024,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine it received from COVAX facility in March 2021.

“This comprises of 2,534,205 people who have been vaccinated for first dose, and 1,404,205 who have received their second dose of the vaccine,” he said.

Dr Shuaib said  in the course of the vaccination, the country recorded 14,550 cases of mild/moderate Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI), with only 148 cases considered to be severe.

He added that there was  no record of death associated with COVID-19 vaccination so far.

He said the federal government has procured 60 units of U701 ultra cold chain equipment, with about 37 of them already deployed to all the 36 states and FCT in preparation to receive COVID-19 vaccines that would require ultra-cold temperature of below 40 to 85 degrees.”

Shuaib added that with the detection of the Delta Variant of COVID-19 in Nigeria, it is important that Nigerians continue to observe non-pharmaceutical or public health measures such as wearing of facemasks, social distancing and hand hygiene in order to curb the transmission of the disease.

Walter Kazadi, World Health Organization country representative, said variants are currently winning the race against vaccines because of inequitable vaccine production and distribution.

Peter Hawkins, United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) country representative, said the pandemic is still going on, adding that measures must be taken to prevent its further expansion, by ensuring that the next phase of the vaccination is successful.