As the Nigerian government gives its component states a condition to halt new COVID-19 vaccinations, only about 50 per cent of ‘eligible’ Nigerians have been vaccinated, an official said. Those vaccinated are, however, less than one per cent of the country’s estimated 200 million population.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, said on Friday that only about half of the ‘eligible’ Nigerians have been vaccinated with the Oxford- AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Mr Shuaib, while speaking at a press briefing, said the number represents 1,071,346 people considered eligible to receive jabs of the vaccine.
“As of today, April 16, 1,071,346 representing 53.2 per cent of the eligible persons targeted with the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered their first dose in this vaccination phase,” he said.
“These are the people who have their information already uploaded on our database, while others are awaiting upload, potentially due to network problems and the high traffic of those coming in to take their shots at the same time.”
Having received 3.94 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in early March, Nigeria commenced vaccination beginning with healthcare workers who are often at the risk of exposure to infections being the first responders to patients.
The 3.94 million doses is part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to Nigeria in batches over the next months through COVAX, a UN-backed effort that promises access to free vaccines for up to 20 per cent of participating countries’ population.
Nigeria on March 21 received another 300,000 doses of the same vaccine from telecom giant, MTN. On Tuesday, April 6, the government of India also delivered 100,000 doses of Covishield COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria.
The COVISHIELD is a brand of the AstraZeneca vaccine.