COVID-19: Nigeria To Vaccinate 40% of Population In 2021

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has announced the Nigeria’s readiness to vaccinate 40 per cent of its population in 2021,saying the country would receive 100,000 doses by the end of January.

The Chairman, PTF, Faisal Shuaib, made this announcement at the PTF COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday.

Shuaib, who is also the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said:

“In the first phase through the COVAX facility, we expect to receive approximately 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and biotech vaccine by the end of January”.

The PTF chairman noted that about 70 per cent of the total population is required to receive the COVID-19 vaccines to completely eradicate the virus.

While stating that only about 40 per cent will be vaccinated in 2021, he said the remaining 30 per cent will be covered in 2022.

The NPHCDA DG mentioned that priority would be given to frontline health workers, first responders, strategic country leadership, the elderly and those with co-morbidities.

Speaking on the second phase, Shuaib said the country is expecting free 42 million doses of vaccines through the COVAX facility.

The facility, which is an initiative run by the vaccine alliance, GAVI, will ensure equitable access to COVID vaccine.

He said the second phase will be “a combination of all the available approved vaccines currently in the market,” as it will cover only about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s population.

With a population of over 200 million persons, Nigeria joins other countries on the queue to access effective vaccines for its citizens.

Despite varying opinion questioning the readiness of Nigeria to start a vaccine campaign in January, the government inaugurated an 18-member national COVID-19 task team to ensure ‘vaccine security’ when it finally gets to the country.

The Director, Logistics and Health Commodities at the NPHCDA, Iyabo Daradara, had earlier mentioned that there are no ultra-cold freezers needed to store some of the frontrunners such as the Pfizer-BioTech and Moderna vaccines.

In terms of cost, Shuaib said there are some components on financing cost of additional vaccines and delivery to the country.

“The first is the cost of procuring the vaccines, the second is cost of delivering to every ward and the third is ensuring the PHCs and the health workers are available to deliver the vaccines safely and effectively,” he said.