Nigeria begins second phase of COVID-19 vaccination Tuesday

The federal government of Nigeria on Saturday said it will begin to administer the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines it received this month on Tuesday.

The latest tranche, over four million doses of the Moderna vaccine, was donated by the US government.

According to a statement by spokesperson to the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mr Willie Bassey, the second batch of vaccines will aid the country’s efforts in battling the third wave of coronavirus infections.

“The PSC has received over four million doses of Moderna vaccine donated by the U.S. Government to Nigeria.

“In view of the above, the inoculation is scheduled from Tuesday, Aug. 10, at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, off Airport road, Abuja”, the statement said.

Nigeria had earlier kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination program in April after receiving 3.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX initiative.

Covax was set up to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to low-income countries, and has already delivered more than 80 million doses to 129 territories.

The Moderna vaccines, which were approved by NAFDAC in July, are expected to boost the country’s vaccination programme.

Last month, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said it had detected the Delta variant, putting officials on alert for a third wave of infections in the country.

In June, Nigeria barred passengers who are not citizens or permanent residents from entering the country if they have been in South Africa in the past 14 days.

The decision followed similar restrictions imposed on travellers coming from Brazil, India and Turkey.