The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, has disclosed that a total of 176,000 of Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines would be received by the country, Tuesday.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, who said this at a briefing in Abuja, explained that the doses were for persons who live in hard- to- reach areas.
The vaccines,he explained were single doses unlike others that he noted,were of double doses. According to the NPHCDA boss, the country would also take delivery of 700,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
This, he said, was to be given as second dose to those who received first jab.
He disclosed that Monday had been fixed for rollout of 2nd phase of COVID-19 vaccination.
His words: “We are rolling out the second phase of the vaccination programme sequel to the first phase that ended 9th July.
“After the first phase, we did not have a single dose of vaccines anywhere. The launch of the vaccine should start by Monday next week”.
“Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is expected in two days time. It is not in large amount of doses. We expect 176,000 doses from the communication we have received so far. We have mapped out the target population in hard to reach areas”.
“We expect to get 700,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines to make sure that those who got the first dose will get the second dose.
FG has procured ultra-cold chain facilities that can store Moderna. We are ready to store the vaccines and have deployed the storage facility to every state and the FCT”.
“We are working with traditional and religious leaders to let people have confidence in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines; to dispel misinformation and disinformation”.
“We assure Nigerians that the vaccines that are approved for use in Nigeria are safe and effective”.
“Even with the Delta variant, the Moderna is 72 to 94 percent effective against the variant. AstraZeneca is 92 percent effective against the Delta variant.”
“We are going to be tracking the Moderna. NAFDAC has given the go ahead to use the Moderna vaccines. The reports on doubts about vaccines are incorrect. We are going to track and trace”.
“The final part of roll out is to make sure all vaccines have the right labelling and bar codes to be able to track all vaccines. This should be finished by the weekend. The launch of the vaccine should start by Monday next week.”
