The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, on Tuesday, said he cannot officially confirm when the Federal Government will take delivery of the next batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Shuaib said this in Abuja during a press conference organised to update the public on the status of COVID-19 vaccination.
He said, “As most people here know by now, the global community is facing challenges regarding vaccine supply.
“Like most nations, this impacts the clarity over Nigeria’s next shipment.
“While we have information that we may get the next consignment of vaccines by end of July or August, this not been officially confirmed.
“When we are able to, we will provide an update regarding timelines and updates of the next shipment
“At present, we do not have that information available due to the wider context we are in.”
Speaking further, Shuaib said, “The United States announced that it will donate 20 million vaccine doses by the end of June to the COVAX facility.
“The International Monetary Fund is now advocating for a $50 billion Fund to be spent on ensuring a faster rollout of COVID-19 vaccines globally and is calling for at least, 40 percent of the global population to be vaccinated by the end of this year, and at least 60 percent by June 2022.”
According to Shuaib, the fund from IMF would be used to expand vaccine production capacity and also increase COVAX vaccine coverage.
He emphasised the need for all nations to have access to COVID-19 vaccines in order to end the pandemic while also adding that Pfizer and BioNTech had pledged to provide one billion doses of vaccines to low-income countries by the end of 2021 and another one billion doses in 2022.
He also admonished Nigerians to continue to observe the public health or non-pharmaceutical measures in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 -19.
