The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDCA) on Tuesday said no fewer than 3,600,858 Nigerians had received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose as of September 6.
The NPHDCA also said the National for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was working towards the proper serialisation of Johnson and Johnson (J and J) vaccine before it would be made available to the public.
This is as it stated that the country on September 4, 2021 received 1,123,200 additional doses of the J and J vaccine.
The agency’s Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, during a media briefing in Abuja, added that the country had started the administration of AstraZeneca as first dose due to the receipt of 1,394,480 doses from the COVAX facility.
He said, “We received 1,123,200 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine late evening on Saturday, September 4, 2021, through the AVATT platform, coordinated by the African Union Commission, as part of the 39,800,000 doses procured by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The NAFDAC team have already taken samples for analysis and are currently scanning the codes to ensure proper serialisation of the vaccine.
“As of September 6, 2021, a total of 3,600,858 eligible Nigerians have so far received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. This is made up of 2,551,738 persons vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,049,120 persons vaccinated with Moderna vaccine.
“Therefore, 1,576,011 persons have been fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine. We have now restarted the administration of AstraZeneca as first dose in all designated health facilities.”
He also spoke on the failure of the European Union countries to recognise the Indian-made Astrazeneca.
He said, “On the issue of recognising the Indian made Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine also known as Covishield, this is really more of a documentation matter, rather than a quality issue.
“We got these vaccines through WHO and COVAX. So COVAX and WHO are pursuing the issue across the globe, rather than each country addressing it separately. The WHO and COVAX have so far gotten 15 countries to recognise the covishield vaccine.
“They are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. They are working on getting more countries to recognise the documentation.”
(NAN)