From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Federal Government has taken delivery of two million doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine to boost its vaccination drive against COVID-19.
The vaccine which was donated by the European Union (EU) was handed over to the officials of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) at a brief ceremony held at the National strategic cold store, Abuja.
Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, in his remarks at the handover ceremony, confirmed that the new donation of two million doses made it 51 million doses of J&J COVID-19 vaccines that Nigeria has received.
Dr Shuaib said the vaccination team would be focusing the J&J vaccines on people in the hard-to-reach areas, notably, riverine areas, desert areas and security-compromised areas.
This, he explained, was because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only a single dose for full vaccination. “This way, health workers would be able to do what is called a ‘touch and go’ without comprising their safety.”
He reassured partners that Nigeria was committed to a safe, equitable and effective COVID-19 vaccination programme across the country, adding that the availability of different vaccine brands does not, in any way, mean that some categories of people are selected for high-quality vaccines while others are targeted for low-quality vaccines.
“All COVID-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) are safe and can deliver adequate protection against the disease. While the choice of vaccine is left for eligible persons to make, it is important to note that no particular vaccine brand is preferable to the other,” he explained.
The NPHCDA boss, however, disclosed that Nigeria has vaccinated 15,792,392 (14.1%) of its eligible population with the first dose. “We are using the platform of COVID-19 vaccination to also make available access to other primary healthcare interventions.
“We have been engaging with the poor performing states lately to identify areas where they would require more support from us and to also help them in identifying areas where they can improve in order to ramp up their vaccination coverage.
“Last week, we were in Enugu State where we engaged with all the stakeholders in the five South East States. With our attention now intensively focused on the states, we are hoping to see a more rapid vaccine coverage over the next couple of weeks.”
Meanwhile, the Ambassador of the European Union, Samuela Isopi, in his remarks, confirmed that the EU is so far the biggest donor of COVID-19 vaccines in the world.
He said: “To date, Team Europe has mobilised at least EUR 38.5 billion, of which €8 billion for the African continent. We are now stepping up efforts to support Africa, where vaccination is lower than in other parts of the world. This will be at the centre of the discussions among Africa and Europe’s leaders at the upcoming EU-AU Summit next week in Brussels.”
World Health Organization (WHO), Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo, said he was happy that Nigeria has witnessed an increase in the average vaccination rates to over 200,000 doses daily.
He said: “WHO’s goal remains for every country, including Nigeria, to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of its population by mid-2022. There is no path out unless we achieve our shared target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the population by the middle of this year.”