Nigeria might be getting 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX scheme to inoculate over one fifth of its population.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19, on Tuesday, December 5, 2021, in Abuja.
Shuaib said that the vaccine would be got through the global COVAX scheme, a scheme set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries in the world.
He said that the initial doses would come as part of Nigeria’s plan to inoculate 40 per cent of the population in 2021.
“The COVAX scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries such as Nigeria, whose 200 million people and poor infrastructure pose a daunting challenge to medical officials rolling out the vaccinations, as the West African country battles a second, larger spike in coronavirus cases.
“Nigeria, where officials recorded low coronavirus numbers through much of 2020, had 1,204 new cases on Monday, its highest ever, as total confirmed cases edge closer to 100,000.
“Nigeria will first inoculate frontline health workers, first responders, national leaders, people vulnerable to coronavirus and the elderly,” he said.