NIGERIA. Abuja: 528,262 eligible Nigerians have been vaccinated with the first dose of Moderna vaccine as of 1st September 2021.
The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NSPHDA) announced that the vaccination took place in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
34,681 eligible Nigerians vaccinated with 1st dose have collected their 2nd dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Executive Director of the NSPHDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib while speaking to Journalists in Abuja said that the second phase vaccination has commenced in 35 states including the FCT.
He stated that for Nigerians who have not had any vaccination, the Moderna Vaccine is available and currently being administered in all designated health facilities across the Country.
He said that on 30th August 2021, Nigeria has so far vaccinated 2,897,201 and 1,430,379 eligible persons with 1st and 2nd doses respectively across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory.
Donation of AstraZeneca Vaccine
Faisal disclosed that the United Kingdom donated an additional 592,880 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine to the country adding that the delivery was received on Thursday, 26th of August 2021 through the COVAX Facility.
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He stated that the total quantity of vaccines donated by the UK Government to Nigeria now stands at 1,292,640 doses.
The Executive Director stated that the additional doses would be included in the 2nd dose vaccination exercise which is currently ongoing across the country.
“I, therefore, use this opportunity to once again call on those who received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine before 8th July 2021 to go and get their second dose to be fully protected against all strains of the Coronavirus.”
Battle with misinformation
Faisal appealed to the media to dedicate more space for content and programmes that would address misinformation in the country adding that recovery from the pandemic would not be possible with continuous trends of misinformation and disinformation.
“Nigeria and the rest of the world need to end the pandemic, recover from its economic adversities and return to normalcy. However, getting this done will be difficult if we do not face the issues of misinformation and disinformation squarely”, he said.
He also cleared the air about the misinformation making rounds about a viral text message that the US Supreme Court has cancelled universal vaccination.
“Let’s set the record straight and once again punch holes in the malicious intentions of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists: The US Supreme Court has not “overturned universal vaccination” – there is no record of such a case, and there is no such thing as “universal vaccination” in the US. So this is another case of “Fake News”.
“Our success in wild polio virus eradication was not without similar challenges. The false claims currently disseminated that COVID-19 vaccines are intended for genetic manipulations were similar to the claims that polio vaccines were intended to kill Muslims, but today, thanks to our resilience, solidarity and collective will, we have cause to celebrate our hard-won victory over wild polio virus in Nigeria.”
Message to states and state government
The Executive Director then called on the state governments to mobilize their citizens to accept the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We would like to encourage Governors to continue to provide leadership in the mobilization of citizens to prioritize the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine.
“We are particularly enthused by the example shown by the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, as he mobilized churches and religious leaders towards mass acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine. Already, we are getting requests from Edo State for additional vaccines. This is highly commendable.”
He assured that the Agency will work closely with all states to optimize logistics for the full take-off of the phase 2 vaccination exercise to ensure maximum utilization of available vaccines in Nigeria.
