Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZenecaon Tuesday.
It is the first shipment for the over 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility, aimed at vaccinating 20% of the population.
Nigeria is expected to receive an additional 42 million doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, but details on the timeline of shipments are not yet clear.
According to government officials, the received doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are undergoing final assessment by Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. While awaiting the conclusion of the review, health workers across the country will receive training on the vaccination exercise.
The first doses will be administered at a treatment center of National Hospital Abuja on Friday, and the nationwide vaccine rollout is set to commence March 12.
In a press statement, Thabani Maphosa, managing director for country programs at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said, “Nigeria is amongst the first receiving the doses from COVAX, thanks to the excellent level of preparedness put in place by the Government of Nigeria.”
Despite this vote of confidence, public health experts and citizens in the country are worried that sparing, conflicting, and sometimes confusing information on the vaccine deployment will hinder the process.
Confusion over rollout
According to Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant to the Nigerian president on digital and new media, Nigeria’s vaccine doses will be rolled out in four phases. The first recipients will be front-line health workers and strategic leadership, followed by individuals ages 50 years and above.
The third phase will cover individuals ages 18 to 49 with relevant medical conditions, while the last group will be the remaining eligible population, which is made up of individuals ages 18 to 49 without relevant medical conditions.
