Eunice Afolabi
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has approved COVID-19 vaccination for persons within the age of 16 years and 17 years for educational purpose.
This was made known via a tweet by the National Primary Health centre Development Agency (NPHCDA) on Tuesday, October 4.
According to NHPCDA, as of February 27, 2022, 8,136,554 of total eligible Nigerians targeted for COVID-19 vaccination had been fully vaccinated with the two doses while a total of 131, 863,446 were yet to be vaccinated.
Barely a year since the kick-off campaign of COVID-19 vaccine Nigeria is yet to achieve 70 per cent of its population being vaccinated.
Also, less than half of the stated benchmark are yet to be vaccinated following the 40 per cent of the eligible population target with two doses by 31st December 2021, which is equivalent to 80 million persons.
According to figures from Our World in Data, 10.73 billion doses have been administered as of 28th February 2022 while about 23 million doses are administered daily.
In a report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that vaccines train individuals’ immune systems to create proteins that fight disease, known as ‘antibodies’, just as would happen when they are exposed to a disease but crucially vaccines work without making them sick.
WHO also maintained that vaccinated people are protected from getting the disease in question and passing on the pathogen, breaking any chains of transmission, Programme Manager, National Emergency Routine Immunisation Coordination Centre for NPHCDA, Bassey Okposen, noted that states with higher percentage of confirmed cases would be given additional doses.
According to Okposen, frontline health workers would be prioritised, while other batches would be administered to the elderly and vulnerable persons with co-morbidities based on WHO guidelines.
NPHCDA boss, Dr. Faisal Shuaib explained that vaccines or who are due for their second or booster dose to visit the nearest health facility and get vaccinated.
He further added that the agency is Striving to vaccinate 70% of the eligible population of every country and it remains essential for bringing the pandemic under control and Nigeria is working hard to ensure its citizens has access to the lifesaving vaccines.
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