Nigeria to get 80M vaccine doses in 2021: Official

By Ibrahim Garba Shuaibu

KANO, Nigeria – Nigeria will receive about 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccines this year, an official statement said.

The statement by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) and Ekiti state governor, said that another batch of 60 million doses would arrive in 2022.

“As of today, Nigeria has tested 1.3 million people for COVID-19, with 10% (131,242) of these confirmed positive,” Fayemi said.

Fayemi indicated that besides the government's procurement of vaccines, the NGF has remained a strong proponent of the utilization of public-private partnerships in vaccine procurement as a means of closing the gap between “what is available and what is necessary to achieve herd immunity.”

The Ekiti state governor said the private sector through the Coalition Against COVID-19 initiative collaborated with the state and federal governments in raising more than $75 million to provide medical supplies, equipment, isolation and treatment centers and food for the vulnerable people in the country.

This, he said, was in addition to the expansion of laboratory services across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory and the training of about 45,000 health workers across the country on infection prevention and control measures.

According to Dr. Faisal Shuaib, director general of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, the government plans to vaccinate 70 million people by 2022.

The country has so far reported 133,552 COVID-19 cases, including 1,613 deaths and 107,551 recoveries, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.