The Nigerian Government has taken delivery of 177,600 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines acquired through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) with support from Afrexim Bank.
The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said in Abuja on Thursday that Nigeria has procured nearly 40 million doses of the vaccine through AVAT.
“Today, we received 177,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, being part of the 29,850,000 doses that the Federal Government of Nigeria procured from the AFREXIM Bank through the African Union. The balance of the vaccine will be delivered over the coming months.
“We have the capacity to store and distribute this vaccine all the way to the point of administration as we have walk-in freezers in all 36 States plus Abuja. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is stored at temperatures of +20C to +80C which is the temperature in which most of our routine immunization vaccines are stored,” he said.
According to him, the vaccines will be deployed in hard-to-reach areas, to eliminate the need for travel for a second dose and that more of the J&J vaccines are expected in the country.
Nigeria is expected to step up its Covid vaccination programme after receiving over 4 million doses of the Moderna vaccine from the US government last week.
According local media reports, only about one percent of the population has been vaccinated, so far and that the second phase of the national vaccination programme is expected to kick-off next Monday.
Meanwhile, Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 790 cases of coronavirus disease, which is the nation’s highest daily figure within the last six months.
GIK/APA