The Federal Government said, on Monday, that Nigeria would receive 16 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines before the end of February.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, said this would replace the initial 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech approved vaccines earlier expected in the country.
He spoke at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
He explained that the initial 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccines expected this month were grossly inadequate for Nigeria’s large population.
According to him: “The COVAX facility has informed us that they will be supplying Nigeria with approximately 16m doses of Astrazeneca vaccine this month.
“This will replace the earlier communicated 100,000 doses of Pfizer mRNA vaccine, which was grossly inadequate.”
He said that government was determined to take all necessary steps to overcome the supply challenges the country was experiencing and ensure an efficient roll out of COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria.
Read him: “In spite of the challenges caused by the delay on the arrival of the vaccines and the difficult task of accessing the COVID-19 vaccines, we are optimistic that the experiences and manpower acquired from eradicating polio and controlling Ebola, will help us in the effective implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, when the vaccines become available.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria is involved in discussions including the African Union Commission to access COVID-19 vaccines. The African Union Commission through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) portfolio has approved approximately 41M doses of a combination of Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines in March/April 2021.”
He stated that the preventive quality of vaccines had socio-economic value, as treating the disease burden cost a lot higher than vaccinating against the disease.
He said that Nigerians should take responsibility for themselves their loved ones and adhere to the protocols of infection prevention and control, through wearing of facemasks, hand hygiene and physical distancing.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
