Over 1.6million Nigerians Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 — FG

According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), 1,692,315 Nigerians who were eligible for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination received two doses.

Dr Faisal Shuaib, the NPHCDA’s Executive Director, revealed this at the Presidential Steering Committee’s (PSC) briefing on COVID-19 on Monday in Abuja.

According to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), this success has been made in the six months after the country began immunizing its population against COVID-19.

“1,692,315 persons have received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, as approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“As at Monday evening, 4,052,756 eligible Nigerians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

“This is made up of 2,645,020 persons with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,407,736 persons with first dose of the Moderna vaccine,” Shuaib said.

According to him, ” a total of 1,692,315 eligible persons are fully vaccinated and we currently have a national average of 70.4 per cent utilisation of the 2,000,040 doses of the Moderna vaccines we received.”

Shuaib said that the 36 states and the Federal Capital had been guided not to exceed their 50 per cent utilization rates for the Moderna vaccines in order, to reserve the second doses for all those already vaccinated.

He noted that most states had reached the percentage and priority was now being focused on administering AstraZeneca vaccine as first dose vaccine in all states of the federation.

Shuaib urged states yet to publish their vaccination sites to do so across the various media platforms – Newspapers, radio, TV, and social media, to enable people locate their nearest vaccination site.

“The list of vaccination sites across the country is also available on the NPHCDA website: www.nphcda.gov.ng and eligible persons who are unable to register by themselves can go to any designated health facility where he/she will be assisted by our vaccination teams,” he said.

Shuaib noted that state governments were responsible for the protection of the vaccines and vaccination cards sent to them, warning that vaccines would no longer be allocated to states found condoning any acts of corruption in the process of vaccination.

“We have received reports of people trying to procure cards from health workers, these reports are being investigated and anyone found wanting would be prosecuted.

“It is important to emphasize that it is in the interest of public safety and collective well-being of Nigerians that the Federal Government has made available these vaccines free for all eligible persons,” Shuaib stated.

He stated that the government would continue to engage with stakeholders and partners to ensure that COVID-19 vaccine is delivered in a safe and effective manner throughout the country.

Nigeria began COVID-19 vaccination on March 5, 2021, after receiving around four million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX, a global program aiming at ensuring equitable vaccine distribution.

After obtaining another four million doses of Moderna vaccines from the US government, the country just begun the second round of COVID-19 vaccinations.

The African Union also sent the country additional 177,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines (AU).

Nigeria received another 699,760 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccinations from the UK government on August 17.

Prior to the start of COVID-19 immunization, the government established a lofty goal of vaccinating 40% of the country’s approximately 200 million people by the end of 2021, and 70% by the end of 2022.