Only 3.5m Nigerians fully vaccinated for COVID-19, says health agency

The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) said on Wednesday only 3.5 million Nigerians had been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19.

The NPHCDA Executive Director, Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this during an awareness programme for students on COVID-19 vaccine in Abuja.

Shuaib, who was represented by the Director of Disease Control and Immunisation in the agency, Bassey Okposen, added that 6.6 million Nigerians had taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

He said the Federal Government had enough doses of vaccines in the store to cover a large percentage of the population.

The NPHCDA chief also revealed that Nigeria was awaiting about 57 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Shuaib said: “6.6 million Nigerians have taken the first dose. Another 3.5 million of the figure have taken the second dose. We are targeting 70 per cent because the current number is low.

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“The risk this poses to the nation is that it would give a chance for mutation of the virus. The virus mutates in an environment where herd immunity is low. And for us as a nation, we have only achieved 3.5 million for the second dose which is very low. This is why mutation can happen so fast.

“The United Kingdom and few other governments have banned flights from Nigeria. This does not mean that we cannot travel but when we get there, we have to quarantine for 10 days. The simple reason is that in some of the cases of Omicron in the UK, the travellers are from Nigeria. That is why they are taking safety precautions. It is not because of the vaccines we are using but because the cases they have for now are from Nigeria.

“We have more than enough vaccine in Nigeria for now. We also have a pool of vaccines almost 57 million that are awaiting shipment. There is about 40 million already in the country and we have secured about 90 million doses.

“Hence, the vaccine is not the issue. The challenge is people coming out to take their jab.”

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