…COVID-19 vaccination exercise in Nigeria is in the region of one million.
An update released by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, stated that 1,043,737 eligible Nigerians have so far been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine, representing 51.9 per cent of the proportion vaccinated.
Breakdown of the exercise state by state reveals that each of the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had vaccinated at least 5,500 persons.
A breakdown of the NPHCDA update contained in an Electronic Management of Immunisation Data, EMID, System, further revealed that Lagos is leading in the exercise with 192,061 persons vaccinated.
Three other states trailing Lagos are Kano 56,942; Kaduna, 55,604 and Ogun, 52,513
Other states that have recorded 5-digit figures in the exercise are FCT, 44,098; Katsina, 39,297; Bauchi, 35,764; Oyo, 34,755; Ondo, 31,348;
Kwara, 30,708; Jigawa, 27,644; Plateau, 27,334; Edo, 27,129; Gombe, 26,807; Niger, 26,659; Rivers, 26,572; Ekiti, 22, 735; Yobe, 21, 030; Benue, 20,981; Osun, 20,869; Borno, 20,737; Delta, 20,525; Imo, 18,763; Adamawa, 18,612; Nasarawa, 16,860; Kebbi, 15,531; Zamfara, 15,251; Cross River, 14,483; Sokoto, 11,560; Akwa Ibom, 11,350; Enugu, 11,018; Bayelsa, 10, 487.
In the league of 4-digit states are Anambra, 9,989; Ebonyi, 8,534; Taraba, 7,538; Abia and Kogi recorded 6,081 and 5,568 respectively.
The bulk of those vaccinated in the phase 1 of the national vaccination campaign, include frontline health workers, support staff and other health workers as well as first responders in the military, paramilitary and other security agencies, including the immigration services.
Other frontline workers including essential workers such as teachers, the clergy, and journalists, among others, participated.
The second phase of the roll out, set to begin immediately targets adults aged 50 and older (with or without an underlying disease) but starting with those aged 60 and older.
Meanwhile, the country has failed to meet the two million testing target set for between May and July 2020, as a strategy to bridge the gap in testing and containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control, NCDC, in its update for April 13, 2021, revealed that Nigeria had carried out tests on a total of 1,838,174 samples, equivalent to 8,749 tests per one million population which is less than 50% of the population.
As part of measures to achieve the target, the NCDC had planned to boost the national testing capacity would from 10,000 tests to 30,000 tests daily.
The plan was to test an estimated 50,000 people in each state and the FCT.
