Nigeria to receive 41.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine soon

The Federal Government has disclosed Nigeria would receive a cumulative of 41,282,770 vaccines through the COVAX facility and the African Union Commission by September ending.

It stated 3,924,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca are expected by end of July or early August 2021 from the COVAX facility; 3,930,910 doses of Pfizer-Bio-NTech COVID-19 vaccine expected in August from the COVAX facility donated by the United States Government and 3,577,860 doses of Pfizer-Bio-NTech COVID-19 vaccine expected in the third quarter from the COVAX facility.

Furthermore, 29,850,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson (Jassen) COVID-19 vaccine are expected by the end of September, which will arrive in batches from the African Union Commission.

It reiterated that AstraZeneca vaccines being utilised in-country is effective against the Delta variant recently identified in the country.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed these during a joint briefing with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Abuja.

He said: “It is with the support of our mainstream media community that Nigeria has successfully vaccinated 3,938,945 eligible persons across 36 States and FCT, representing 98 percent utilization of the 4,024,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine it received from COVAX facility in March 2021.

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

“We are also approaching a period of festivity – the Eid El Kabir celebration. What the numbers are showing us is that we have to be very careful that we don’t go all out and mingle in crowds, and refuse to take those public health measures.

“If we do that, it means that we are welcoming a third wave. Similar situation occurred in India. Part of the reasons they witnessed a third wave was because of the festivities in India – a lot of traveling and crowding. We can learn from India.”