Nigeria expects nearly 8 million more COVID-19 vaccines by end of August – official

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Dr Ngong Cyprian receives his first dose of the Oxford / AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine from Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director and CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, at Abuja National Hospital, Nigeria, March 5, 2021. REUTERS / Afolabi Sotunde / File Photo

ABUJA, July 13 (Reuters) – Nigeria expects to receive nearly 8 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of August, including through a donation from the US government, the chief said on Tuesday. from his primary care agency.

Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said Nigeria ran out of its initial stockpile of nearly 4 million vaccines last week and aimed to resume immunizations in a few weeks, when the new doses arrive.

Nigeria expects delivery of 3.924 million doses of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine from the global COVAX vaccine sharing program by the end of July or early August, Shuaib said, and an additional 3.93 million doses of Pfizer / Biotech or Moderna, donated by the US government. via COVAX, in August.

Last month, the White House laid out a plan to share 55 million doses of the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine globally through COVAX. Read more

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, recently detected the highly contagious variant of the Delta, while the governor of its commercial center, Lagos State, warned it was on the verge of a third wave of infections. Read more

The 3.92 million Oxford / AstraZeneca doses Nigeria received in March from COVAX covered a small fraction of its 200 million citizens, and Shuaib, at a press briefing in Abuja, urged citizens to respect “non-pharmaceutical” measures, such as wearing a mask and social measures. distancing, to stem the spread of the virus until new doses arrive. Read more

He said Nigeria expected an additional 3.577 million doses of Pfizer / Biotech or Moderna from COVAX in the third quarter, as well as 29.85 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines purchased through the African Union, although it did not have specified when these would arrive.

Shuaib said Nigeria had recorded 14,550 mild to moderate adverse reactions to vaccines, but no shooting-related deaths.

Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha, editing by Libby George and Steve Orlofsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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