Federal Government has said that Nigeria is expecting about 129 million doses of free COVID-19 vaccines from two different sources.
According to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 pandemic and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, the vaccines are coming from COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX) and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT).
He noted that the first batch of the deliveries, which is four million doses, will arrive tomorrow.
Mustapha disclosed that the vaccine allocation being expected is at no financial cost to Nigeria, adding that Nigeria expects to receive a total of about 84 million doses from the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX).
The government had earlier said that the first four million doses of the vaccines would arrive by the end of February, but later said it might be first week in March.
“Well, I can assure you that the vaccines are coming, and they are coming very quickly, barring any change in the delivery plan that has been released to us by UNICEF, like I said, barring any change, because the logistical arrangements and other things are in the hands of the UNICEF, we believe that the vaccines should depart India tonight, March 1, and arrive Abuja tomorrow morning. So we are making preparation for that,” he said.
The SGF, however, cautioned Nigerians that the vaccine is not an excuse to disobey non-pharmaceutical protocols put in place by the PTF.
