The second phase rollout of Coronavirus vaccine began Monday at an elaborate ceremony held at the Federal Medical Center , Jabi, Abuja.
The first phase ended in July when all the available vaccines were exausted.
The 4,000,080 Moderna vaccine doses donated by the United States of America was unvailed at the ceremony attended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, representative of the Senate President, Hamed Lawan, Minister of Health, Osagie Ehinare,Minister iof State for Health, Adeleke Mamora, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib and director of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye.
Dr faisal said the donation byb the United States was to step up efforts to fight COVID-19 in the country.
A representative of the US stated thast the donation was part of President Joe Biden’s promise to give 500 million vaccines to the world by the end of 2022.
The initiative is part of the collaboration between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), COVAX, and the U.S. with the African Union member states set to receive about 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
This is to enhance coverage across the continent and vaccinate at least 60 per cent of the African population.
Professor Adeyeye said NAFDAC certified – Moderna, AstraZeneca (from Korea) and Sputnik V good enough for use in Nigeria.
She stated that NAFDAC has been preparing for about a year. She said: “So you can ask yourself, why should I take the vaccine, because NAFDAC satisfy it, why should I take the vaccine because NAFDAC worked around the clock to ensure that the health of Nigerians is premium in whatever we do,
“Why should I take the vaccines because NAFDAC is the only agency in the world that is using track and trace to monitor where the vaccines goes.
“When the Moderna vaccines came from the U.S. we knew that the bar coding was not complete. So we had to have an emergency meeting to ensure we put the bar code in place.
“But it’s not just that, anything that comes into Nigeria, we have to test it. That is why you should go and take your vaccines, because we spend so much time on it.
“When you take your vaccine you may have a little bit of fever or rash but not to worry, we have the med safety app you can download it from Google.
“So if you have iPhone or android, you can download it, you can self-report the part of side effects.
“Why is that so important? This is important because as regulators, we have to recall what side effects are being reported across the world, so that we can save the health of people going forward.”
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General, Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), said the vaccines have a long path from development to acquisition, which the NPHCDA and all partners have supported the country with.
