At least 2.3million persons registered to be vaccinated against COVID-19, barely 24 hours after the arrival of 4 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the country, according to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
Executive Director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, said there is enthusiasm in Nigeria about the vaccine and dismissed fears over the safety of the vaccines.
According to Shuaib, “the next step in the vaccination programme given that we’ve now received the vaccines is a launch that will be taking place at the National Hospital tomorrow (Friday). The time scheduled for that launch is 10am. The launch will be conducted by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
“The plan is to vaccinate the frontline health workers that work in the treatment centre of the National Hospital. Those will be the first people just like we’ve communicated that frontline health workers will be the first people to take the vaccine’’.
“After that, the plan is to vaccinate Mr President, Mr Vice-President and strategic leaders on Saturday. Again, we are hopeful that when Nigerians see leaders like Mr President and Mr Vice-President take the vaccine; it will increase their confidence around the safety of the vaccines’’
This disclosure is also coming amidst claims by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that it is unlikely that the COVID-19 pandemic will end in 2021. WHO’s focus at present is to keep transmissions as low as possible and vaccinate more people globally.
“I think it will be very premature and unrealistic to think that we are going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,” Michael Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said at a briefing on Tuesday.
“What we can, if we are smart, finish with is the hospitalisations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic,” Ryan added.
While the arrival of the first batch of vaccines was a major boost in Nigeria’s fight against the disease which has infected over 150,000 people in the country, Shuaib said there is still much work to be done.
“Yes, the vaccines are here, but there is even harder work that needs to go on to make sure that we deliver the vaccines into the arms of Nigerians in a way that is respectful, in a way that is stress-free,” he explained.
He explained that the agency has put plans in place for the rollout of the vaccine, adding that it is only waiting for the approval of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
“… we are waiting on NAFDAC. We feel that they are going to do all of the checks that are necessary and once they give us the green light, we will be ready to roll out the vaccines,” he added.
….with Agency reports