Nigeria starts Phase 2 of COVID-19 vaccination with Moderna, AstraZeneca, J&J

Nigeria has officially kicked off its second round of COVID-19 vaccination with a national flag-off ceremony in Abuja on Monday, August 16, 2021.

Over 1.4 million Nigerians were fully vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine during the first phase of the vaccination campaign which started in March and ended last month.

Over 2.5 million got just the first dose without a second dose, with the total number of those vaccinated representing 98.6% utilization of 4,024,000 doses donated to the country through COVAX.

The second phase commenced on Monday just over a week after the United States government donated a little over four million doses of the Moderna vaccine to the country.

177,600 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine were also received last week as the first tranche of a total of 29,850,000 doses bought by the Federal Government.

The CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said on Monday that the remaining millions of J&J vaccine doses will arrive Nigeria 'over the coming months'.

The J&J doses will be administered to the elderly and people in hard-to-reach areas like riverine areas, desert areas, and security-compromised areas.

"This is because they are people who may find it difficult to leave their homes to the health facility for second dose vaccination," he said.

698,880 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the United Kingdom government will also arrive Nigeria on Monday.

Shuaib said the doses will be administered to those that got their first AstraZeneca shots during the first phase but are yet to get the second shots, usually administered weeks apart.

Over 3.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are also expected to arrive the country 'in the next couple of weeks'.

40,739 state level personnel have been trained for the strategic roll out plan for Phase 2, targeting different segments of the population.

"This is to assure Nigerians that all brands of COVID-19 vaccine used in Nigeria is safe and effective especially against the Delta variant," Shuaib said.

Nigeria has recorded over 182,000 COVID-19 infections since February 2020, with over 2,000 people dead.