- With sufficient stock of COVID 19 vaccines, Nigeria has successfully commenced it’s second round of Vaccination.
- It has received its second batch of vaccines from countries around the world through COVAX. Almost 4 million doses of the Moderna vaccine were received from the United States.
With sufficient stock o fCOVID 19 vaccines, Nigeria has successfully commenced its second round of Vaccination. It has received its second batch of vaccines from countries around the world through COVAX. Almost 4 million doses of the Moderna vaccine were received from the United States. Another 177,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, was bought under by the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), an initiative of the African Union.
About 1,292,640 doses of the AstraZeneca have been donated by the United Kingdom along with safety boxes and syringes for administering the vaccines safely.
The vaccine rollout is driven by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in accordance with the National Vaccine Deployment Plan (NVDP) developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). They are distributed to states across the country by NPHCDA for onward delivery to Primary Health Centers (PHC) through their Local Government Area (LGA) offices.
So far Nigeria has vaccinated 1.3% of its population partially and fully against the global vaccination rate of 39.5% of people partially and fully vaccinated. This shortfall is worrisome at a time when some countries are already moving towards booster dozes. The shift towards booster shots can impact the vaccine supply.
The Federal Government during the first round of the vaccination drive had to fight misinformation and reluctance from people to get vaccinated. It had to implement several public demonstrations to convince the public that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe.