FG Kicks off Phase Two of COVID-19 Vaccination Exercise

Olawale Ajimotokan

The federal government yesterday kicked off the phase two of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Abuja.

This phase will see the nationwide administration of about 4,000,080 million doses of Moderna vaccines donated by the United States Government as well as the 177,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines out of the 29,850,000 doses the federal government purchased through the Africa-Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Union to people aged 18 years and above starting from yesterday.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mrs. Mojisola Adeyeye, has however, said the vaccine is safe to be administered.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, officially flagged off the vaccination exercise at the Federal Medical Centre in Jabi, Abuja, at an elaborate ceremony graced by members of the PSC and other dignitaries from the National Assembly and diplomatic corps.

He said the acquisition of more vaccines has now made it the responsibility of every citizen to register and get vaccinated so that the country can achieve its desired herd immunity of vaccinating at least 70 per cent of its eligible population.

Mustapha assured Nigerians that the federal government is committed to ensuring that Nigerians have unfettered access to the vaccines, while also promising that the country will continue to invest in and access safe and effective vaccines.

According to him, “The first phase of our COVID-19 vaccination and the entire national response has been adjudged by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the best in the world. This is very heartwarming. However, we acknowledge that there is still room for improvement. I commend NPHCDA and our partners for the various initiatives they have introduced to address vaccine hesitancy, which was one of the greatest challenges encountered during the first phase. We invite all hands to be on deck to fight vaccine hesitancy in order to free our country and the rest of the world from this pandemic.”

Meanwhile, the WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Mulombo, has said 98.9 per cent of the first tranche of AstraZeneca vaccines was utilised under the first phase of vaccination that ended last month.

Also the DG of National Primary Health Care Agency (NPHCA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, yesterday said Nigeria has received a donation of 698,880 doses of AstraZeneca from the United Kingdom Government through the COVAX facility.

He said the doses would be targeted at people waiting to receive their second doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Shuaib disclosed that in the next couple of weeks the country would be expecting 3.9 million additional doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to complement what is available, and would be administered to those that want to take their first doses as well.

This also followed the disclosure by the President of Afreximbank, Dr. Ben Okey Oramah, that Nigeria and other African countries under the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) would from November 2021 get vaccines from the $750 million donated by the Mastercard Foundation and the $25 million secured from the MTN Group.

Oramah said Afrexibank was happy to provide $2 billion that made it possible for the Africa Union to achieve its objective for the African continent through procurement approach to access the COVID-19 vaccine at the same price and from one location.

He added that by the beginning of next month, a total of 1.1 million doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines will be delivered to Nigeria while also assuring Nigerians that 400 million doses of the vaccines will be fully delivered to all states of the federation by the third quarter of next year.

Also, the Country Representative of the US agency, Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Dr. Mary Boyd, stated that the US Government has spent more than $73 million towards supporting Nigeria’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the donation covered the assistance that ranged from the deployment of personnel to support the response to the delivery of mobile centre in the FMC garden to additional 200 ventilators, PPEs and other COVID-19 control measures.

In his remark, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who launched the field guide, warned that the global situation about the pandemic showed that Nigeria would need more 70 per cent of a vaccinated population to attain herd immunity.