The federal government says it is expecting to receive additional 3.92 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX).
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this during a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Shuaib said the doses of vaccines are expected in the country latest by August, 2021.
“We now have information that Nigeria will get 3.92m doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca by the end of July or early August,” he said.
Nigeria had commenced COVID-19 vaccination on March 5, 2021, having received approximately four million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX, a UN-backed effort that promises access to vaccines for up to 20 per cent of participating countries’ population
Nigeria on March 21 received another 300,000 doses of the same vaccine from telecom giant, MTN. On April 6, the government of India also delivered 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Nigeria bringing the total number of vaccines in stock to about 4.4million.
Due to limited doses of vaccine, the Nigerian government announced a pause in the vaccine rollout once half of the about 4.4million doses in stock were exhausted to forestall out-of-stock situation when those already vaccinated start coming back for their second doses.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is given in double doses. A person is required to come back for a second shot, some weeks after taking the first jab.
