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By Omeiza Ajayi – Abuja
The federal government has said it has placed an order for 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, regretting that the 100,000 doses it was previously scheduled to receive this month were no longer achievable.
Explaining that the 100,000 doses would now be received next month, the government also announced the one month extension of phase three of the lightened lockdown.
During a media interface Monday in Abuja, chairman of the presidential working group, PTF, on COVID-19 and secretary of the government of the SGF Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha also added that Nigerian scientists were sequencing variants of the COVID virus -19.
According to him, there have been reports of cases with the variant strain B117, first reported in the UK to the UK, found in Nigeria. “Three of them were with travelers outside of Nigeria and one with a resident,” he said.
Mustapha said that in the past week Nigeria has performed 58,974 tests and recorded 11,179 cases with 62 deaths.
He said case management was gradually improving with the availability of medical oxygen, although he said the government was also speeding up the rehabilitation of existing factories and the construction of new factories approved by the president.
SGF said: “The PTF is improving on the international travel portal to minimize the challenges that passengers continue to face.
“Likewise, it is revising the guidelines on the implementation of phase three of the facilitated lockdown which is due to expire today (Monday).
“In view of the fact that our numbers are not decreasing, all existing measures prescribed in these guidelines are (subject to certain modifications) extended by a period of one month from Tuesday 26 January 2020”.
According to him, the effort to access and deploy vaccines is progressing and as already announced by COVAX, the 100,000 initial doses expected by Nigeria will now arrive in the first weeks of February.
“We want to assure all Nigerians that the vaccines will be safe and effective when they are finally deployed. We urge everyone to join the campaign to end vaccine hesitation.
“I must however inform all Nigerians that the only source of safe and effective vaccines in Nigeria is through the channels of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA). Please don’t hang out with anyone who sells or sells vaccines, ”SGF warned.
Mustapha further said Nigeria is currently working with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the deportation of 600 Nigerians, explaining that the deportees are expected to arrive in two batches on January 28 and 29, 2021.
10 million doses
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, for his part said Nigeria was exploring all options to obtain safe and effective vaccines to achieve its goal of covering at least 70% of its population within two years.
“In the interest of value for money, we are negotiating with many parties and planning for flawless execution using the recent experience of polio eradication in the face of a global rush for vaccines.
“In addition to the 100,000 doses allocated as the first wave to Nigeria by the COVAX facility, we have also ordered 10 million doses through the Commission’s Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Force (AVATT). of the African Union, which obtained 270 million doses, with the 2 billion dollars of support by Africa Exim Bank for a “pan-African” approach from the President of the African Union, President Ramaphosa of South Africa.
“The vaccine should be deployed from the end of March or April. The quantity we order from AVATT will depend on our ability to distribute them to avoid waste as we have seen in some countries where vaccine management has become an issue.
“The Federal Ministry of Health organized a national conference on the Covid-19 vaccine to prepare a roadmap for Nigeria’s access to the Covid-19 vaccine and to review our vaccination strategy.
Reports and updates have been received from NPHCDA, the agency responsible for vaccine administration, NAFDAC responsible for drug regulation and also from our research institutes.
“Nigeria has an indigenous vaccine candidate, which will require significant investment to go through trials. We will look for sponsors to advance the initiative.
“The vaccine conference also looked at the value chain of procurement, logistics of storage, distribution and distribution to try to focus on preferred vaccines,” Ehanire said.
Dr Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency NPHCDA, said Nigeria is on track to receive the first batch of Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccine by February 2021.
“Information reaching us from the COVAX facility indicates that due to manufacturing and supply issues encountered, the expected arrival date for the first 100,000 doses of the mRNA vaccine will now be February and not January,” as indicated previously.
“In a spirit of transparency, we want you to join us at the airport to receive the vaccines when the time comes.
“Let me reiterate that at the National Strategic Cold Store (NSCS) we have three (3) Ultra-Cold Chain (UCC) freezers, which have the capacity to store over 400,000 doses of mRNA vaccines. Pfizer / BioNTech at a temperature of -60 to -80 degrees centigrade.
“We also have Walk in cold rooms that can store vaccines between -25 and -15 degrees centigrade.
“MRNA vaccines can be stored between +2 and +8 degrees centigrade at the health facility for 5 days. And through our routine immunization system, we have supported states in the past with Solar Direct Drive (SDD) cold chain equipment.
“By the end of 2021, all political constituencies in Nigeria will have functional cold chain equipment per room to ensure the potency of the vaccine, even if there is no electricity.
“We have sufficient storage capacity at the national, zonal, state, LGA, department and health facility levels. Members of the press, that is reason enough for you to be assured of our willingness to stockpile the vaccine.
“It is important to stress the fact that the vaccines we are expecting are the same mRNA vaccines used in the US, UK, Israel, France, Germany and most European countries.
“Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccines are universally the same and the mRNA vaccine was the first to receive emergency use clearance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and is reportedly 95% effective. In addition, it is made accessible worldwide thanks to the COVAX installation.
“It is for reasons of availability, coupled with its efficiency rate of 95%, that this is the first batch of vaccines to which Nigeria will have access through the COVAX facility.
“As I have said on numerous occasions, we have a moral responsibility to ensure that we only use vaccines approved by WHO, tested and certified by NAFDAC in Nigeria.
“So there is no vaccine specifically produced for Nigeria or Africa. So talking about a vaccine for Africa only is once again one of the misinformation out there. Please do not amplify this.
“Nigeria will have access to millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccines recommended through this channel by April 2021.
“We are pleased to confirm that the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Force (AVATT) has provisionally secured 270 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the critical period from April to December 2021, which will be distributed through of the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP). .
“It is relevant to state that the priority given to health workers in the first 2 phases of our COVID-19 introduction plan stems from the need to optimally protect our health workers.
“Health workers are most at risk of exposure, which makes them very susceptible to COVID-19 infection, which they could unknowingly pass on to their patients.
“As you know, even people who are infected without symptoms also spread the virus. In addition, daily reports that an increasing number of health workers are infected in the line of duty with deaths are very disturbing.
“This further depletes our human resources, which are largely insufficient for health. Our priority for health workers is therefore to protect them, so that they can take care of us in complete safety, ”adds Shuaib.
Vanguard News Nigeria
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