August 2, 2021

The Federal Government on Monday took delivery of another tranche of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

The latest tranche, over four million doses of the Moderna vaccine, was donated by the US government.

Representatives from UNICEF and USAID officially presented the vaccine at a ceremony in Abuja.

According to AFP, the vaccines had arrived Nigeria on Sunday via two planes.

Nigeria had earlier kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination program in April after receiving 3.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX initiative.

Covax was set up to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to low-income countries, and has already delivered more than 80 million doses to 129 territories.

The Moderna vaccines, which were approved by NAFDAC in July, are expected to boost the country’s vaccination programme.

The virus has killed 2,149 people and infected nearly 174,000 in Nigeria, but the real figures are believed to be much higher, in part because of low testing rates.

Last month, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said it had detected the Delta variant, putting officials on alert for a third wave of infections in the country.

In June, Nigeria barred passengers who are not citizens or permanent residents from entering the country if they have been in South Africa in the past 14 days.

The decision followed similar restrictions imposed on travellers coming from Brazil, India and Turkey.