The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCD), Faisal Shuaib, has announced receipt of an additional 1,123,200 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
Shuaibu spoke on the latest shipments with journalists in Abuja, where he received the vaccines, which form part of the 39,800,000 doses procured by the federal government.
He stated that a shipment of the single-shot J&J vaccine was received last Saturday via the African Vaccine Acquisition Team (AVAT) of the African Union, a facility provided by AFREXIMBANK.
“The NAFDAC team has already taken samples for analysis and are currently scanning the codes to ensure proper serialization of the vaccine,” Shuaib said.
Shuaib noted that the phase two vaccination exercise has kicked off fully across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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He stated that a total of 3,600,858 Nigerians have so far received their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday.
“As of September 6, 2021, a total of 3,600,858 eligible Nigerians have so far received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. This is made up of 2,551,738 persons vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,049,120 persons vaccinated with Moderna vaccine,” he said.
“Therefore, 1,576,011 persons have been fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine. We have now restarted the administration of AstraZeneca as first dose in all designated health facilities.”
Reacting to the possibility of a vaccinated person contracting COVID-19, Shuaib said: “The observation is that in these individuals, the disease is usually milder than those who were unvaccinated.
“Vaccination prevents one from severe disease, hospitalization and death. If our communities continue to remain unvaccinated, we will keep endangering our citizens most especially those who are vulnerable, elderly or immunocompromised.”
