The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has reported that Nigeria is the country with the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in Africa.
The Executive Director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, stated this on Monday at the media briefing of the presidential steering committee (PSC) on COVID-19 in Abuja.
This claim, however, has not been independently verified by BizWatch Nigeria.
The agency’s chief noted an average of 87,000 people receive the vaccine daily in Nigeria.
He pointed out that this figure puts Nigeria ahead of countries like Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, and Senegal in its vaccination rate in the continent.
“You may recall that a total of 4,024,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine were received by the federal government of Nigeria in March 2021 —3.924 million through the COVAX facility and another 100,000 doses from the government of India,” he said.
“I am glad to inform you that 3,441,146 doses have so far been utilised for the first and second dose vaccinations, which is approximately 88 percent of the total AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine stock in the country.
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“As at today, the breakdown of the number of people vaccinated and the vaccine consumption is as follows: 2,265,805 people vaccinated with the first dose; 1,175,341 people vaccinated with the second dose — 88 percent vaccine doses have been used.
“Based on these data and comparative information from other countries, Nigeria continues to have the highest vaccination rates in Africa with approximately 87,000 people being vaccinated daily.
“Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, and Senegal each have a daily vaccination rate of 72,000, 52,600, 12,100, and 4,790, respectively.
“Again, this is to demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that only safe and potent COVID-19 vaccines are administered to Nigerians,” he added.