Nigeria to receive 3.92m doses of AstraZeneca vaccines end of July – FG

Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja

The Federal Government disclosed on Tuesday that it has received confirmation that about 3.92 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will arrive Nigeria by the end of July or early August.

Speaking while addressing journalists in Abuja, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Faisal Shuaib, noted that the vaccines will be delivered through the COVAX facility.

Giving a detailed update on the COVID-19 vaccine exercise, Shuaib said, “We now have information that Nigeria will get 3.92m doses of Oxford/Astrazeneca by the end of July or early August.

“As we receive additional information on the exact dates in August, we will provide an update regarding timelines and details of this.

“The last time I spoke we were not certain about when the next batch of vaccines will be coming, but we have received official communication that Nigeria will get 3.92m doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca by the end of July or early August.

‘’COVAX will only communicate when the vaccines are secured and our partners have validated that the vaccines have been secured’’.

Shuaib also disclosed that recent research from Public Health England (PHE) shows that the Indian (Delta) variant B.1.617.2 is 92% susceptible to Oxford/AstraZeneca.

“It is therefore comforting to know that the vaccine used in Nigeria can protect against this variant that causes high morbidity and mortality in India. However, it underscores the need for us to ramp up our vaccination to more Nigerians.

“As you all are aware, hesitancy towards the second dose is very tied to the continued misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccination program globally and locally.

“This is especially prevalent on social media. While I commend the patriotism of a multitude of our social media influencers, I must say that I profoundly appreciate the contributions our professional media community has been making towards the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Nigeria.

“Nevertheless, the challenge is upon us to go beyond straight news and do more in educating Nigerians through interpretative stories, promotional exclusives, features and special broadcast programs on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination.

“It is important to emphasise the need to be fully protected with the second dose, and the socio-economic and health risks of refusing to be vaccinated.”

Shuaib further reiterated on the recent concluded G7 summit as the World leaders addressed the issue of vaccine inequities supply particularly for developing countries to get the vaccine.

“While we are working with our international partners to confirm the next shipment of vaccines to Nigeria, I wish to speak about the G7 summit that occurred over the weekend.

“The topic of global inequities in the vaccine supply was a significant focus of the G7 meeting.

“Rightfully so.  Leaders of major, rich countries are becoming increasingly aligned with the thinking that the inequities cannot continue, not only because it is a moral failure but because it is strategically unwise for their own efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On the final day of the summit, leaders committed to delivering at least 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to the world over the next year.

“While this will not close the enormous gap that exists today, it is a positive step and we welcome the new focus.

“Additionally, President Biden announced on the eve of the summit that the US will purchase 500 million doses of the Pfizer-bioNTech vaccine and donate them to low- and middle-income countries through the next year.

“This pledge is by far the largest yet by one country. These doses will be distributed via Covax. We welcome this announcement and encourage other nations with the means to follow the US’ example so that we, as a global community, can move forward from COVID-19 swiftly’’.