WHO: ‘Nigeria qualified for Pfizer vaccine but we had limited doses’

Bayo Wahab 17:00 - 06 February 2021

WHO dispels the report that Nigeria did not qualify for Pfizer vaccine. (Aljazeerah)

The NPHCDA has earlier urged Nigerians to disregard the report that the country was disqualified from getting the vaccine.

Contrary to the report that Nigeria was disqualified from receiving Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says Nigeria was among the nine African countries recommended as “ready to deploy the Pfizer vaccine”.

The organisation said Nigeria failed to get supplies of the vaccine not because of disqualification but because of limited doses available.

Earlier, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency had urged Nigerians to disregard the report that the country was disqualified from getting the vaccine.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, February 6, 2021, the agency explained that “there are a number of factors that were considered in allocating the small quantity of the 320,000 forded of Pfizer vaccine to COVAX countries.”

“As clearly stated by the WHO Regional Director, there are a number of factors that were considered in allocating the small quantity of the 320,000 forded of Pfizer vaccine to COVAX countries.” — @drfaisalshuaib pic.twitter.com/okn3WZ4TM9
— NPHCDA (@NphcdaNG) February 6, 2021

“These include the mortality rates from #COVID19, the number of new cases, the trend in the number of cases, the population of countries and the availability of the appropriate Cold Chain Equipment.”

The agency added that countries like South-Africa received the Pfizer allocation because it has a new strain of the #COVID19 virus with the highest mortality rate.

The agency added that the country is struggling to control the transmission of the disease.