JOINT PRESS STATEMENT BY National Primary Health Care Development Agency, WHO AND UNICEF ON THE ARRIVAL OF COVID-19 VACCINE IN NIGERIA
Nigeria set to receive about 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Nigeria is scheduled to take the delivery of 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, 2 March 2021.
The delivery will mark the first arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country and make Nigeria the next West African country to benefit from the COVAX Facility after Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. The arrival of the vaccine will enable the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to commence the vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with the frontline health care workers.
“The arrival of this vaccine is the result of the commitment of the FGN, under the leadership of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, the support of the PTF on COVID-19 and the guidance of the Hon. Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire”, said Dr Faisal Shuaib.
“We are fully prepared to receive and deliver the vaccine to eligible Nigerians as we have commenced the training of health workers and ensured that cold chain facilities are ready at all levels.
We have a robust cold chain system that can store all types of COVID-19 vaccine at the required temperature.
We are therefore confident that we will have a very effective roll-out of the vaccine, starting with our critical healthcare workers, who are in the frontline in providing the care we all need”, Dr Shuaib added.
The delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine is part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to Nigeria in batches over the next months by the COVAX Facility, as part of an unprecedented global effort to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The COVAX Facility is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), with UNICEF as a key implementing partner.
“The COVAX Facility, has worked exceptionally hard to ensure that Nigeria gets the vaccine as soon as possible so it can start its vaccination programme to the largest population in Africa,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative.
