Nigerian government on Tuesday said it is hoping to receive 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to battle the scourge of coronavirus in the country.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, who stated this at the press conference of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, said 100,000 doses of the vaccines would be received by the country at the end of this month.
He stated, “Through Covax facility, we expect to receive apprioximately 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the end of January. A letter announcing this allocation is being expected this week.”
According to him, “also through 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.”
He, however, said the 42 million doses would only cover 20 per cent of the country’s population.
The Covax scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poor countries such as Nigeria, whose 200 million people and poor infrastructure pose a daunting challenge to medical officials.
Shuaib said the vaccines would first be given to frontline health workers, first responders, national leaders, people vulnerable to coronavirus and the elderly.
He stated, “In order to achieve eradication of COVID-19 in Nigeria, we need to cover 70 per cent of the total population with COVID-19 vaccines. Forty per cent will be vaccinated in 2021, while 30 per cent will be covered in 2022.
“The priority will be given to frontline health workers, first responders (security), strategic country leadership, those with co-morbidities.”