The Nigerian government on Monday said it will start a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign later this week, as the country expects the gradual arrival of over 60 million doses of various vaccines, reported Reuters.
Federal Government secretary, Boss Mustapha said the mass vaccination campaign is aimed at inoculating half of the country’s targeted population by January end, creating an enabling environment for economic recovery and a return to social normalcy.
He said the Nigerian government has a goal to vaccinate 111 million people to reach herd immunity. As part of the vaccination campaign, 55 million doses or more than a million doses will be administered per day. Only 2.9% of those eligible to get vaccines have been vaccinated so far in Nigeria.
The plan will see the setup of vaccination centers at private health facilities, universities, colleges, stadiums, motor parks, and shopping malls.
Mustapha, who is the head of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, said the Nigerian government has enough vaccines in the pipeline to vaccinate about 50% of the target population by January 2022.
He also said the government was trying to secure booster shots for its people to help build a healthy level of antibodies. He did not provide any other details.
According to Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the government received about 5 million AstraZeneca shots from the COVAX global-sharing facility last month, both purchases and donations.
He said Nigeria also had commitments for 11.99 million and 12.2 million doses of Pfizer Inc/BioNTech and Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccines, respectively.
Shuaib said the government has purchased nearly 40 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses, which would be coming in batches. He urged persons 18 years and above and unvaccinated to simply walk into the nearest vaccination site and get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.
