Nigeria Develops Two COVID-19 Vaccine, Awaits Clinical Trials, Certification

Following the high demand and limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccines in the world, Nigeria has developed two vaccines against the Coronavirus and is set to undergo clinical trials and possible certification.

COVID-19: FG Begins Distribution Of Vaccines To States

The Federal Government has on Monday announced that it has begun the distribution of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the 36 states of the federation. Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) made the announcement during the daily Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 press briefing in Abuja, saying the distribution would be concluded on Tuesday.

COVID-19: FG To Roll Out Vaccines In FCT On Friday

Following the reception of the 3.9 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday as the first batch of the 16 million doses expected from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility, the Federal Government is set to commence vaccination in Abuja on Friday. President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo are expected to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday.

COVID-19: WHO Approves J&J Vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) has on Friday approved the COVID-29 vaccine developed by Johnson&Johnson, making it an additional 500 million doses to be added to the COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme. The approval comes after Johnson&Johnson’s single jab dose vaccine won approval from the European Union (EU) on Thursday. In a statement, Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Chief said “Every new, safe and effective tool against Covid-19 is another step closer to controlling the pandemic.”

President Buhari, Osinbajo Receive Jabs Of COVID-19 Vaccine As National Vaccination Program Commence

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received jabs of the COVID-19 vaccines on LIVE TV at about 11: 55 a.m. on Saturday, March, 6. Mr. Buhari was vaccinated by the Chief Personal Physician to the President, Suhayb Sanusi Rafindadi, while Mr. Osinbajo was vaccinated by his personal physician, Nicholas Audifferen. Earlier it was reported that the President and Vice will be among the first set of Nigerians to receive the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to demonstrate to Nigerians it is safe. Nigeria commenced the COVID-19 vaccination of its citizens on Friday, three days after it received 3.94 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX).

FG Bars Private Sector COVID-19 Vaccination

The Federal Government has barred the private sector from administering the COVID-19 vaccine, reserving the vaccination exclusively for the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) for safety reasons. The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said this during the daily press briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, saying the government is restricting the deployment and implementation of the vaccination exercise to the NPHCDA. Ehanire explained that the decision was to ensure safer and proper management of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including dealing with any after-effects of the vaccine.