The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, yesterday said it was not clear yet when the federal government would take delivery of next batch of COVID-19 vaccines.
Shuaib said this in Abuja during a press conference organised to update the public on the status of COVID-19 vaccination.
Shuaib had while giving an update on the vaccination exercise, at a recent media briefing by Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 in Abuja, said that the country was expecting deliveries of vaccines through the Covax facility by the end of May or early June
He, however, told health reporters yesterday at a press conference in Abuja that the date was no longer feasible.
He said, “While we have information that we may get the next consignment of vaccines by end of July or August, this has not been officially confirmed.
“When we are able to, we will provide an update regarding timelines and updates of the next shipment. At present, we do not have that information available due to the wider context we are in.”
Speaking further, Shuaib said, “The International Monetary Fund is now advocating a $50billion fund to be spent on ensuring a faster rollout of COVID-19 vaccines globally and is calling for at least, 40 per cent of the global population to be vaccinated by the end of this year, and at least 60 per cent by June 2022.”
Speaking on the progress being made in the vaccination exercise, Shuaib said that so far a total of 1,929,237 Nigerians, representing 96 per cent of the targeted population have been administered the first dose of vaccine.
Out of this number, 440,000 health workers have received the vaccines representing about 23 per-cent of the population so far vaccinated.
