Nigeria receives 177,600 doses of J&J COVID-19 vaccine

Nigeria on Thursday took delivery of 177,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine which was donated to Nigeria by the African Union (AU) under the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) arrived in the country on Wednesday.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib and other partners in the health sector inspected the vaccine at the National Strategic Cold Store in Abuja.

He said the single-dose vaccine had been approved for the treatment of COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The NPHCDA chief said: “Nigeria took delivery of 177,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, being part of the 29,850,000 doses that the Federal Government of Nigeria procured with the help of the AVAT of the AU Commission through the facility provided by African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK).”

Shuaib said Nigeria was among the first 10 African countries to receive the vaccines through the partnership, adding that the second batch would be delivered to the country very soon.

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He added: “This batch of J&J vaccine will be focused on those who are in the hard-to-reach areas (riverine areas, desert areas, and security-compromised areas), the elderly and frail individuals across the country.

“This is because the J&J vaccine is administered as a single-dose vaccine unlike the AstraZeneca and Moderna that require two doses for complete vaccination.

“Today, we received 177,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, being part of the 29,850,000 doses that the Federal Government of Nigeria procured from the AFREXIM Bank through the African Union. The balance of the vaccine will be delivered over the coming months.

“We have the capacity to store and distribute this vaccine all the way to the point of administration as we have walk in freezers in all 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is stored at temperatures of +20C to +80C which is the temperature in which most of our routine immunization vaccines are stored.”

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