By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos
Efforts are being stepped up to ensure Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines delivery targets are met in Nigeria.
So far, the country has received more than 65.8 million COVID-19 pandemic vaccines, one year on from the first shipment it got.
The COVID-19 vaccines shipment to Nigeria was received through COVAX.
The quantity of COVID-19 vaccines received in Nigeria represents over 95 per cent of the doses shipped to Nigeria from all sources.
More than 27 million doses are in the pipeline in the next few months.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria gave the details in a news statement it issued in commemoration of the first anniversary of COVID-19 vaccines shipment to Nigeria.
UNICEF pointed out that the country received over 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Government of Japan through COVAX.
According to it, a recent donation of 859,600 doses by the Government of Japan via the COVAX Facility bolstered the global effort to defeat the Coronavirus disease pandemic and demonstrated the ongoing commitment of the global community to ensure Nigeria receives the vaccines it needs.
“Nigeria was amongst the first countries to receive COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX, and just recently launched the SCALES 2.0 strategy to rapidly accelerate vaccine coverage,” Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said. “It is a welcome development that we mark the one-year anniversary, COVAX, with support from donors, able to supply Nigeria with the doses it needs to achieve its newly-set vaccination targets.
Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, World Health Organization (WHO) representative said: “The world is not safe until everyone in Nigeria is safe. The donation of the COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria, which began one year ago through the COVAX Facility, has proved to be beneficial as we have witnessed an increase in number of people protected from the severity of the virus. This is yet another example of how the world is working together to defeat COVID-19.”
Nigeria marked one year anniversary of first COVID-19 shipment to it on 2nd March 2022.
