Health

The Federal Government will today Friday December 10, 2021, begin the administration of booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines. The FG explained that the booster dose will be given to persons fully vaccinated with either two doses of AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer Bio-N-Tech or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency Faisal Shuaib, stated the above on Thursday in Abuja as the Africa Centre for Disease Control, an agency of the Africa Union, kicked against the introduction of Booster doses in African Countries. “Following the detection of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Nigeria, the Federal Government reviewed the country’s vaccination programme and resolved to introduce the booster dose, using the Pfizer Bio-N-Tech vaccine across the country. “This will take effect as from tomorrow (today), Friday, December 10, 2021. It is pertinent to reiterate the fact that the Nigerian COVID-19 vaccination programme is science-driven.

The United States (US) Embassy in Abuja announced that 2.5 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Nigeria on Thursday. The Embassy said the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) had collected and kept the vaccines in cold storage in preparation for its distribution across Nigeria. The donated vaccine will assist the Nigerian government in its mass vaccination drive which is expected to take place at major markets, event centers, motor parks, airports, religious institutions, amongst others.

President Muhammdu Buhari flagged off the planned $300 million African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) to be built in Abuja in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). Other partners of the project are King’s College Hospital, United Kingdom; University of Wisconsin Teaching Hospital, the United States and Christie's Hospital, Manchester. The President who attended the flag-off ceremony virtually said the AMCE has a 500-bed capacity and would provide patients services in cardiology, oncology and haematology.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has on Tuesday announced that three additional cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant have been recorded, making the total discovered cases of the new variant in Nigeria six.

The Canadian government has extended its travel ban to include Nigeria and those who visited Nigeria recently over the fear of the spread of the coronavirus variant, Omicron. The Canadian Authorities had earlier revealed today that it has detected the new Omicron variant of the covid-19 amongst the people who recently visited Nigeria. The Canadian Health Minister, Jean-Yves Duclos today disclosed that Egypt and Malawi are other African countries that were added to its list, making the list now to a total of 10 countries in Africa that were meted with the travel ban by the Canadian authorities.

Following the index case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in South Africa, the Federal Government has said it will on Tuesday issue new travel protocol in line with proactive measures against the new variant from Nigeria. The National Incident Manager of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mr. Mukhtar Muhammad made the disclosure during a press briefing on Monday, saying the World Health Organization (WHO) has flagged the variant high risk, designating the Omicron as a “variant of concern”.