By Hassan Zaggi
The Federal Government of Nigeria has so far invested 298 million dollars which is nearly equivalent to 122, 180,000,000 naira to procure 29 million doses of J& J vaccines, the United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed.
The UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja, Tuesday, revealed that Nigeria has so far received 51, 40,140 doses of vaccines.
Giving further breakdown, he said that out 51, 40,140 doses, Nigerian government paid for only 29 million doses.
The other doses, he said, were donated to Nigeria by the international community through COVAX, GAVI, WHO , UNICEF and others.
Hawkins, however, said that, “10 million doses is being stored, ready to come into Nigeria which makes it 51million doses that is being received in Nigeria.
According to him: “298 million dollars have been used by the Nigerian government for the procurement of 29 million J&J vaccines. That is a commitment to make the vaccines available at it is required.
“The actual figure is so far, Nigeria has received 51, 40,140, but committed is forty one million, eight hundred and forty seven doses of vaccines.
“There is 10 million doses that is being stored, ready to come into Nigeria which makes it 51million doses that is being received in Nigeria”
He, however, applauded the five states of Nasarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Ogun and Kwara for doing exceptionally well in the current COVID-19 vaccination exercise.
Hawkins, therefore, called on other state governors in the country “to revitalize their efforts and ensure that vaccine are not only available but people are vaccinated with the vaccine that are available.”
Earlier, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, revealed that so far 14,093,873 eligible persons have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria while 5,252,406 eligible Nigerians have been fully vaccinated.
While giving further breakdown, Shuaib said: “These results are not evenly distributed across the states of the Federation.
“Our deep dive into state performances reveals that Nasarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Ogun and Kwara have remained the top 5 performing states on COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
“It is noteworthy to mention that Jigawa and Lagos have each vaccinated about 1.5million eligible Nigerians with the first dose, while FCT, Nasarawa, Lagos and Delta are leading on second dose administration with more than 10% of eligible populations in each of the states already vaccinated.”
He further revealed that his agency has concluded plans to integrate the campaign with childhood immunization and other PHC services.
“What this simply means is that alongside the COVID-19 vaccines, childhood vaccines will also be available at COVID-19 vaccination sites.
“Consequently, parents or guardians with children aged zero to 23 months are urged to take them along to the vaccination sites.
“The childhood vaccines protect against polio, whooping cough, measles, yellow fever, tetanus, tuberculosis, and other childhood preventable diseases.
“This is to ensure that while we are trying so hard to control the transmission of COVID-19, we do not neglect other PHC services or even have outbreaks of childhood vaccine preventable diseases on our hands.”
