COVID-19: 2.3m Nigerians Register For Vaccination In 24Hrs

At least 2.3 million Nigerians have registered to be vaccinated against COVID-19, less than 24 hours after the launch of an e-registration portal for easy coordination of the vaccination process.

The Chairman, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this on Wednesday when he appeared on Channels TV’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme.

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“I can tell you that there is a lot of excitement [about arrival of the vaccine]. I know some people have their concerns, but I want to give you an example of the enthusiasm that Nigerians are showing around wanting to take these vaccines.

“Around midday on Monday when we launched the e-registration platform, in less than 24 hours, we already had up to 2.3m Nigerians who had registered. And that number continues to increase,” he said.

The revelation came a day after Nigeria took delivery of 3.94 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine dispatched to the country through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility led by the World Health Organization and its partners.

Shuaib, during the TV interview, also disclosed that the federal government would begin the rollout of the vaccines on Friday.

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“On Friday, we are going to be launching the vaccines, we are going to be rolling them out at the treatment centres at the national hospital. Our priority will be the frontline health workers. We are going to be giving these vaccines to first responders,” he said.

Shuaib said the NPHCDA was waiting on the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to conclude its examination of the vaccines to ascertain its efficacy and safety before the rollout.

“So, we are waiting for NAFDAC. We feel that they are going to do all of the necessary checks and once they give us the green light, we will be ready to roll out the vaccines,” he said.

Shuaib further debunked claims that the vaccines had been allocated to influential and rich individuals in the country.

“I will tell you categorically that we have not allotted these vaccines to the rich people or the people in the urban areas, absolutely not, the President has been very clear.

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He said the Vice President and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 have, “made it very clear in terms of who we are going to prioritise and I will repeat it here again that the first set of people who are going to be taking these vaccines are those people who have sacrificed in the last one year taking care of all Nigerians that have come down with Covid-19. So, frontline health workers.

“We are also going to be looking at people outside of the health sector who are at risk of getting Covid-19. We are going to be looking at those strategic leaders like the President and the Vice-President, those people who will also want to take the vaccines publicly so that they can motivate the followers to take the vaccines, to convince them that the vaccines are very safe,” he said.

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