Posted on: Mon 10-05-2021

The Federal Government has stated that the country will in July receive its first batch of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine through the African Union (AU).

Stating that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is currently going through the dossier of the Russian Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine, it stressed that asides the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, its aim is to provide as many options of vaccines that Nigerians can choose from.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Government announced that it has signed off to receive up to 29.8 million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine through the AU.

Speaking during an NTA interview on Friday in Abuja, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said: “I anticipate that in the next few months, maybe by September or thereabout, I believe that the supply of vaccines will now outstrip the demand.

“A lot of the developed countries have procured vaccines multiple times the quantity that they need for their population. A country like Canada has nine times the amount of vaccines that they need for their population. When they realized that they did not need to give multiple vaccines for their population, and that they need no more than the two doses, we anticipate that they will begin to release some of the vaccines that they hoarded. Some of these vaccine nationalisms will begin to fade out. This way, vaccines will become more available and pharmaceutical companies will begin to increase production because people will be willing to buy the vaccines.

“I do not think that there are people who are going to see the AstraZeneca vaccine that is going to provide protection for them today, and say they want to wait 6 months down the line for a single shot.

“I can imagine that there are people who will prefer a single shot. Even for us at the programmatic level, we prefer a single shot because you do not have to expend time and resources to go back and give the second shot.

“We are estimating that by the month of July, we should be getting our first batch of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The government wants to provide the choice if they exist for people to choose between the different vaccines. We not only provide AstraZeneca but also Johnson & Johnson through the African Union.

“We are also looking at other vaccines such as the Sputnik vaccine, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) is currently reviewing and NAFDAC is currently looking at their dossiers. Once we get the green lights that these vaccines are safe and are going to be effective for Nigerians, then by all means, will bring them to Nigeria. Nigerians will have many options of vaccines to choose from, and that is part of the liberalisation that we want to put into the choices that Nigerians can make.”

As of May 8, a total of 1,653,292 eligible Nigerians have been vaccinated with the first dose in the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination, according to the latest data from the NPHCDA. This brings the proportion of those vaccinated to 82.2 per cent.

The agency noted that states with coverage above 100 per cent have vaccinated more than the 50 per cent of the eligible population required for the first dose.

According to available data, five states have vaccinated the highest proportions. The states are: Zamfara, 101 per cent; Kwara, 97 per cent; Lagos, 92 per cent; Enugu, 92 per cent; and Osun, 91 per cent.

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