About 1m eligible Nigerians have been vaccinated against Covid-19 with the first dose of AstraZeneca as at yesterday, 16 April 2021, federal officials have said.
Nigeria imported nearly 4million doses of the vaccine which were airlifted to the country on 2 March 2021.
The Federal Agency in charge of the vaccinations is the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA). NPHCDA’s Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, yesterday gave the exact number of immunized cases as 1,071,346 persons.
The 1m figure of those vaccinated against Covid-19 virus suggest that less than 1 percent of the population has been vaccinated.
The figures could be more, he said, citing tardiness on the part of state governments in reporting vaccination data.
“While we continue to optimize our registration and immunization data system, we also encourage the state teams to deploy the most suitable internet service for their locations in order to speed up the data entry process, so that we can have the actual number of vaccinated people at any given time,” NPHCDA said.
NPHCDA’s Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said the reported figure represents 53.2 percent of those targeted with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Initial targets, he said, are frontline workers and older persons, 65 and above, who are now being attended to.
Shuaib disclosed that 8,439 Nigerians experienced mild to severe reactions after taking the vaccine. This is conflicting to claims made in the social media by those who have been prompted to take the vaccine.
According to Shuaib, 52 persons experienced moderate to severe reactions after taking the AstraZeneca vaccine imported by Nigeria.
The reactions, he said, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness and allergic reactions.
In less severe cases, the reports include pain, swelling at the site of the inoculation, body pains and nausea.
Five states with the highest reactions to the vaccines include Kaduna (970), Cross River (859), Yobe(541), Kebbi(511), and Lagos(448).”
Nigeria had briefly considered importing Pfizer brand of Covid-19 vaccines but discarded it because of severe logistical constraints.
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