Nigeria receives 1.1 million doses of J&J COVID-19 vaccine

Nigeria last weekend received 1,123,200 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, according to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The agency's CEO, Faisal Shuaib, said at a media briefing on Tuesday, September 7, 2021 that the new shipment was received through the AVATT platform, coordinated by the African Union Commission.

It forms part of the 39.8 million doses procured by the Federal Government, with a first shipment of 177,600 doses received last month.

"The NAFDAC team have already taken samples for analysis and are currently scanning the codes to ensure proper serialization of the vaccine," Shuaib said on Tuesday.

The new shipment will boost the nation's ongoing vaccination campaign that also includes jabs manufactured by AstraZeneca, and Moderna.

Shuaib said a total of 3,600,858 eligible Nigerians have so far received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca and Moderna jabs since vaccination started in March.

"This is made up of 2,551,738 persons vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,049,120 persons vaccinated with Moderna vaccine. 

"Therefore, 1,576,011 persons have been fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine," he disclosed.

Nigeria has recorded over 196,000 COVID-19 infections since February 2020, with over 2,500 people dead.