COVID-19: Nigeria Recieves 501,600 Doses Of Vaccine From France

Nigeria has received 501,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility as donation from the Government of France.

This was disclosed by Executive Director For National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, during the press conference on the progress of COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

During the conference, Shuaib also added that the agency was expecting 3,577,860 doses of Pfizer vaccines within the next two weeks.

He said the Federal Government has pledged to continue to explore options for purchase or acquisition of vaccines such as through COVAX and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team to enable vaccination of at least 70% of the eligible population.

As of Monday, the 4th of October 2021, Shuaib said Nigeria had vaccinated 4,963,985 eligible persons across the country with first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, representing 4.4% of the targeted 111,776,503 eligible population.

“About 2,166,186 people have received their second doses of the vaccines. This means that approximately 1.9% of eligible population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

“It is imperative to reiterate the fact that only those who have taken their second dose are fully protected against the deadly COVID-19.”

On why Nigeria was not listed among the 50 countries whose vaccination certificates are recognized by the UK government, Shuaib said Nigeria was still under assessment by UK and as such Nigerians will continue to isolate upon arrival to the UK.

“If you go through the list of 50 closely, no African country made the list. The UK Government is yet to comprehensively review Nigeria’s vaccination certification program.

“From my communication with the UK Government officials, the vaccines administered in Nigeria are approved by the UK Government. They are also involved with the vaccination program in Nigeria through the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) and they are optimistic that by the time Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccination program certification is assessed, it will be approved.”