AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine in Nigeria
Nigeria’s health ministry has said that it is expecting the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine in the country soon as the COVAX group finally agrees on AstraZeneca.
In accordance with the COVAX programme, Nigeria will get a first 15 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire who disclosed the news during the national briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 did say that the vaccine will be in Nigeria in February. However, there is no information on when the shots will begin.
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He also said that the ministry is reviewing plans “to ensure a smooth roll out” of the vaccine in Nigeria.
According to the minister, Nigeria will get more doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after the first 15 million to meet the quantity – 42 million doses – which the AU’s African Vaccines Acquisition Task Team AVATT assigned to it.
African Union COVID-19 Vaccine
The African Union is playing a role in COVID-19 vaccine for Africa as back up for the COVAX programme.
Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency has applied to the AU to receive 40 million COVID-19 vaccines as well as from Russia and India according to the head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaiba to Reuters in January.
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The chief also stated that Nigeria is going to avoid cold dependent COVID-19 vaccine like that of Phizer/BioNtech. It requires a huge sub-zero (-70°C or -112°F), special purpose cooling boxes loaded with ice for its transportation.
AstraZeneca Vaccine in Nigeria
AstraZeneca is a British–Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company whose version of the COVID-19 vaccine is 62% effective with two shots. It is easier to distribute as it can be stored in a normal refrigerator.
The vaccine was approved by the MHRA, the UK’s regulatory body on 30 December.