The Federal Government has received 859,600 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines and 175 solar direct drive refrigerators donated by the Japanese government.  The government’s spokesperson stressed that the donation will build up the country’s vaccination coverage.

Japan gifts Nigeria AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines

Speaking at the official handover of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines and solar direct drive refrigerators, Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) stated, “I am pleased to welcome and inform you that the government of Japan through the COVAX facility has donated 859,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 175 Solar Direct drive Refrigerators to aid COVID-19 response in Nigeria. Today, as we mark the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 vaccine delivery to Nigeria, we are here to officially receive these donations to Nigeria from Japan.

On behalf of the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria, I want to sincerely appreciate the government and people of Japan for this support to Nigeria at the time it is most needed. The donation of 859,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines bolsters the global effort to defeat the coronavirus pandemic and demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the global community to ensuring Nigeria receives the vaccines it needs.

Japan vaccine comes with SDD refrigerators

We are particularly happy about the Solar Direct Drive (SDD) Refrigerators because of their advantages in independent and uninterrupted power sources for vaccine storage. We have since deployed the SDDs to 24 states of the federation based on vaccine coverage, equity, and making sure we reach the last mile.

Nigeria has continued to push through these odds, and today, we have successfully vaccinated 17,914,944 eligible persons with the first dose and this represents 16 percent of the eligible population targeted for vaccination in Nigeria.

We are continuing to work with stakeholders, partners, and communities to ensure an inclusive campaign that stems from the transparency and accountability principles of the Federal Government. We have optimized our service delivery, communication, accountability, logistics, electronic management of immunization data, and supervision to ramp up vaccine uptake in Nigeria.

This new strategy, conceptualized as Optimized SCALES was officially flagged off last week here in Abuja and entails the integration of COVID-19 vaccination with childhood routine immunization. It is a great opportunity to receive with ease childhood vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines in any of our COVID-19 mass vaccination sites.” He added.

However, it was noted that over 17 million eligible populations had received their dose of the COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria.