The federal government yesterday received 100, 000 doses of Covishield Vaccine from India.
Speaking at the national briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the PTF chairman Boss Mustapha, said, “As you are aware, Nigeria, received 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on 2nd March, 2021.
The vaccine represented the first tranche of about 16 million doses allocated to Nigeria through the COVAX facility, aimed at vaccinating an initial 20 per cent of the population.
“More vaccines are also expected from the African Union’s Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT).
“We shall also be receiving about 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine donated by the Government of India to Nigeria. This will further boost the number of Nigerians to be vaccinated by about 50,000.
“The PTF through the FMH and the NPHCDA prioritised the initial consignment of vaccines to cover frontline medical personnel, strategic leadership, and those above the age of 50 years across the nation.
“Majority of sub-national entities have already received their allocations and the administration is progressing.
“As at April 5, 2021, 963,802 persons in Nigeria, had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The overarching objective is to vaccinate 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population between 2021 and 2022.”
The vaccine was presented to the PTF by the Acting Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Velagaleti Surendra.