Covid-19: 82 million Nigerians to receive vaccination in 2021

 Covid-19: 82 million Nigerians to receive vaccination in 2021

By Modupe Shodeinde

82 million Nigerians have been estimated to receive available and approved covid-19 vaccines this year.

Nigeria is also expected to receive 42 million doses of vaccines from the COVAX facility of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This was made known by the Executive Director and CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib, during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja.

He noted that the priority targets to first receive the vaccine this year would be frontline health care workers, strategic leaders, and the vulnerable – the elderly and those with underlying illnesses.

According to him, “As a result of the pandemic in the year 2020, many countries and economies invested heavily in developing candidate vaccines. The vaccines developed were from Pfizer, Modena and Oxford and AstraZeneca.

“The COVAX facility has 192 participating countries, including Nigeria. This platform is the mainstay of our expected access to safe and effective vaccines. The COVAX facility has in the portfolio the following approved vaccines – Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and the Oxford-AstraZeneca, including hundreds of candidates vaccines still in development.

Speaking on the time when these vaccines would be accessed he be said “through the COVAX facility, we expect to receive approximately 100,000 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine by the end of January.”

He further added that, “In the second phase, also through the COVAX facility, Nigeria is expected to secure free delivery of 42 million doses of vaccines which will be a combination of all the available and approved vaccines currently in the market. This is expected to cover about 20 per cent of the population.”

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Shuaib explained that the African Vaccine Acquisition (AVAC) task team has been set up by African Union to negotiate for more vaccines from developing countries and pharmaceutical companies.

Also, “Nigeria is involved in multiple conversations with the governments of Russia, United Arab Emirates, and India, to access their candidate vaccines.” he said

He however cautioned Nigerians against letting down their guards in the hope of getting the vaccines, he advised the citizens to keep observing the non-pharmaceutical interventions such as the use of facemask, avoiding crowded gatherings and constant practice of physical hygiene.

 

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