‘Nigeria to get largest share of MTN’s 7million doses of COVID-19 vaccine’

Telecommunication Company, MTN, has disclosed that Nigeria would receive a significant volume of the 7million doses of COVID-19 vaccine meant to be distributed to health workers across the continent, disclosing that the vaccine is expected to arrive in the next three weeks.

This is following MTN’s donation of US$25million towards the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.

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The company had earlier made known that the donation will help secure up to 7million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for health workers across the continent, which would, in turn, contribute to the vaccination initiative of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

The Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Dr Ernest Ndukwe; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-designate, MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola and the Chief Corporate Service Officer, MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo, during a courtesy visit to the office of the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, disclosed that the Africa CDC is expected to receive the vaccine within the next three weeks.

Toriola, in a statement made available to our reporter, said the vaccine to be distributed among health workers in the country is the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in partnership with the University of Oxford and is already being administered across the United Kingdom.

According to the statement, the vaccine works by prompting the immune system to start making antibodies and primes it to attack the virus when injected into a patient.

“It has been verified to be highly effective as no one given the vaccine at the trial stage developed severe COVID symptoms afterwards or required further hospital treatment,” Toriola said.

The Chairman had, earlier during the visit, mentioned that the MTN’s partnership with the AU was in furtherance of the Y’ello Hope package launched in 2020 and driven by its GoodTogether philosophy.

He added that the donation will strengthen the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria by ensuring that frontline workers are well catered for and protected.

“The threat that COVID-19 represents to Nigeria requires an unprecedented response from the public and the private sector.

“We must all work together to develop and deliver the solutions that will allow us to contain this threat and protect the most vulnerable in our communities across the country.”