President Muhammadu Buhari-led government on Tuesday disclosed that the first set of vaccines expected from Pfizer will arrive in Nigeria by the end of January.
The Executive Secretary, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, revealed this during the facility tour of the three new Ultra Cold Chain (UCC) and other storage facilities in preparation to receive the 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Shuaib in his statement said, “they (vaccines) are going to be applied on 50,000 Nigerians, comprising frontline health workers and elites within the polity, particularly State Governors, traditional and religious leaders, among others and each recipient of the vaccine is also expected to take two doses.”
He further stated that the Federal Government has plans to commence local production of COVID-19 Vaccines in Nigeria.
“We are also mindful that we have a lot of work to overcome vaccine hesitancy that we are already seeing, the misinformation, the conspiracy theories around the COVID-19 Vaccines and we do not take for granted that all Nigerians understand the principles around Vaccines production.”
“We have to do the hard work. It is not enough to offer the vaccine to Nigerians, we have to do the hard work of sharing information and educating Nigerians about the vaccines, how they were produced, the fact that they are safe and all of the measures.”
“No vaccines will be administered to any Nigerian without NAFDAC certifying it. I want to reiterate that the responsibility of taking that decision to vaccinate Nigerians is of the government. It is a sacred trust that we do not take for granted. We are going to be doing it very diligently,” Shuaib said.
