Nigeria to receive 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines by January – FG

Chidi Samuel| | At least 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech approved COVID-19 vaccines will be received by Nigeria by the end of January, the federal government said on Tuesday.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, who made the disclosure at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, said a letter announcing this allocation in the first phase of the delivery of the vaccines is expected from the COVAX facility during the week.

Shuaib further stated that the country is expecting free 42 million doses of vaccines in the second phase through the COVAX facility, an initiative run by the vaccine alliance, GAVI, to ensure equitable access to a COVID vaccine.

According to him, the second phase will be “a combination of all the available approved vaccines currently in the market.” These vaccines will, however, cover only about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s population, Mr. Faisal said.

“In the first phase through the COVAX facility, we expect to receive approximately 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and bioNtech vaccine by the end of January,” he said.

Shuaib further noted that about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s more than 200m people needs to receive the COVID-19 vaccines to completely eradicate the virus.

According to him, only about 40 per cent will be vaccinated in 2021, while the remaining 30 per cent will be covered in 2022.

In carrying out the vaccination, Shuaib explained that priority will be given to frontline health workers, first responders, strategic country leadership, and those that are elderly and with co-morbidities.

-Nigeria confirmed 1354 new coronavirus cases

Meanwhile, Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed 1354 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 1 death.

The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control in a statement via its verified Twitter handle noted that the country so far has 92705 confirmed cases of the highly contagious virus, with 76396 discharges and 1319 death recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Tuesday’s new cases are reported from 21 states- Lagos (712), FCT (145), Plateau (117), Kwara (81), Kaduna (54), Sokoto (39), Oyo(38), Rivers (37), Gombe (21), Enugu (20), Akwa Ibom (16), Bauchi (14), Delta (14), Ebonyi (13), Anambra (9), Taraba (8), Edo (8), Kano (3), Osun (2), Ekiti (2) and Ogun (1)