The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 says about 90 million Nigerians would be vaccinated if the country gets all the Coronavirus vaccines it is expecting.
This is even as Nigeria has recorded 13 cases of the B117 variant of the COVID-19.
PTF chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, said in Abuja on Monday that six of them were detected in the last one week, adding that all of them came out of samples collected between November to January.
The PTF chairman also said that “shortage of oxygen for case management is gradually being overcome. The private sector (Coalition Again COVID-19 (CACOVID) is supporting provision of oxygen nationwide, and allocations have been made to states.”
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who announced that the Federal Government is targeting the vaccination of about 90 million Nigerians against COVID-19 if she gets all the vaccines being expected, stated that frontline health workers would get priority attention in the distribution of the vaccines.
The next set of people to the health workers, according to Dr Ehanire, would be the elderly who are
dying from the Disease in a disproportionate rate.
According to the Minister, “Nigeria subscribes to this whole-of-Africa approach, that strives to ensure that we are safe and our neighbours are safe. We shall be offered over 42 million doses by AVATT. If all the projected vaccines are supplied, we estimate we should have covered over 45% of the population.
“In addition to the proposed sources, Nigeria has had bilateral negotiations with Gamaleya of Russia over their Sputnik V vaccine, which they are willing to supply to Nigeria. This vaccine has an efficacy of 91%. We are also in talks with the High Commissioner of India over the covax vaccine of Barhat Institute. Both vaccines dossiers are under evaluation with NAFDAC.”
Dr Ehanire urged Nigerians “to disregard the news over the weekend that Nigeria was
“disqualified” from a vaccine allocation. This is false. Nigeria has ultracold (minus 80oC) freezers in strategic stores in Lagos, Abuja and Bauchi, with space to hold over 400,000 doses of vaccines, more than the 320,000 doses WHO Afro had offered.”