Nigeria to receive 4 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine next month

Nigeria will take delivery of 3,930,910 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States, next month, Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, has announced.

The vaccines will be brought through the COVAX facility.

Another 3,577,860 doses of the vaccine are expected in the third quarter of 2021 from the COVAX facility.

29,850,000 jabs of Johnson & Johnson (Jassen) vaccine are also expected in Nigeria by the end of September, through the African Union.

Shuaib also detailed that an additional 3,924,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines should arrive Nigeria by month's end or early August--again, through COVAX.

The NPHCDA boss also said his agency is putting in place all the necessary logistics for storage, distribution, security and accountability of the incoming vaccines.

He said the federal government has procured 60 units of U701 ultra cold chain equipment, and that about 37 of them have been deployed to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to receive the doses that would require ultra-cold temperature of below 40 to 85 degrees.

Shuaib stated that with the detection of the Delta variant of the virus in the country, it has become imperative for all Nigerians to continue to observe non-pharmaceutical or public health measures such as wearing of facemasks, social distancing and hand hygiene.

The NPHCDA has urged all Nigerians eligible for vaccination to register and ensure that they make themselves available when the next rollout commences.

In March, Nigeria received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines--4 million doses--from the AstraZeneca laboratory.

The doses have long been exhausted.