The Nigerian government has denied releasing a formula for the distribution of vaccines to state governments.
The Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, made this known during an interview on Arise TV on Friday.
He expressed surprise at the news making rounds that a certain number of vaccines would be given to some states out of the 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines the government was expecting by February.
The sharing formula published by some news media during the week showed that Kano State would receive 3,557 doses, the highest number of vaccines while Nasarawa would receive 661 doses, the lowest number of vaccines.
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Shuaib said, “I am surprised that there is any allocation. I have not communicated to any state or any entity whatsoever the number of vaccines that will be received by any state.
“If there any official communication, it will be from my office or the office of the Minister of Health or the task force that is responsible for the overall coordination of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
“There is no official communication around what quantities of the vaccine will go to any state. Maybe what people are talking about is the potential prioritisation of the Nigerian populace.
“We have said we will prioritise the health workers, the elderly and those with co-morbidity and with other diseases and that we will be covering up to 70 percent of the populace.”
According to him, the 100,000 doses are like a drop in the ocean because the government is expected to vaccinate 150 million Nigerians.
To validate the potency of the vaccines, he said the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control would test and certify the vaccines before they are administered.
Shuaib added, “We do not the ultra-cool chain that will make the vaccine potent all over the country, we will be collaborating with NCDC to keep them in the agency’s ultra-coll storage.
“Whatever vaccine we are utilising in Nigeria has to be potent and safe that is why we are collaborating with NAFDAC, which is the statutory organisation that has the responsibility to certify that the vaccines are safe.”
