The National Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said 1,071,346 representing 53.2% of the eligible persons targeted with the Astrazeneca vaccine have been administered with their first dose in the first phase of the exercise.
The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib who was speaking at a press briefing to update Nigerians on how far the Vaccination has been said the figure represents the report of the data received from states through the Electronic Management of Immunization Data (EMID) system only and do not take into account vaccinations that are not yet to be captured in the system.
“What this number means is that these are the people who have their information already uploaded on our data base, while others are awaiting upload, potentially due to network problems and the high traffic of those coming in to take their shots at the same time. While we continue to optimise our registration and immunisation 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.
“In many states, we have completed inoculating frontline health workers and are now offering vaccination to the elderly, particularly those that are 65 years and above. We are glad to be able to progress quickly and offer immunisation to more members of
the community. Our rollout has been marked by safety, efficiency, best practice, and speed. | want to take this opportunity to thank all our health workers for ther incredibie and tireless commitment to making this work.”
Dr. Faisal sad they have been careful to ensure that only those who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the current phase are being vaccinated adding that these indude health workers and their support staff, other frontline workers, strategic leaders and in the last few days, we have also induded those who meet the age requirements.
“We continue to communicate these eligibility criteria to our teams in the states, in order to address earlier misunderstandings around people who are being vaccinated across the country.
he also said there is currently a global shortfall of COVID-19 vaccines largely due to the manufacturers not meeting their projected targets but they are witnesses to vaccine nationalism that has led COVID-19 vaccine producing countries to restrict exportation and protect vaccines for their citizens.
“These developments have now necessitated that we reassess our vaccine supply forecasts and take the decision to ensure that everyone who has taken the vaccine in the current phase gets the second dose before the next consignment is delivered to Nigeria.”
According to Dr. Faisal, different countries are taking different approaches as the vaccination continues. “In Nigeria, since the vaccination program was officially rolled out on 15th of March, 2021, a total of 8,439 mild Adverse events following immunization (AEFI) have been reported. These range from pain, swelling at the site of the inoculation, to body pains and nausea. Five states have the highest records of the AEFI namely: Kaduna (970) Cross River (859), Yobe (541), Kebbi (511), and Lagos (448).
“Similarly, 52 cases of moderate to severe incidents of AEFI have been reported. These presented as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea headaches, dizziness and allergic reactions.
“There has been no death from administration of the vaccine. We have also not diagnosed any case of blood clots related to the administration of the vaccines. Nevertheless, we are working with NAFDAC, NCDC and other relevant agencies to set up amore active surveillance system built on our experience with polio surveillance.”
He further said, “We have said from the start and I will say it again: we will only administer vaccines to Nigerians that are both safe and effective against COVID-19. We will continue to follow international best practice and the advice of the WHO and other leading intemational regulatory bodies throughout this process.”
He aded that, thus far, credible and respected Nigerians from the traditional, religious and academic sector have continued to lend their voices and support to the vaccination effort by receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and testifying to its benefits. “This will go a long way in encouraging their adherents to also take the vaccine, promote herd immunity and protect our communities.”
The WHO country representatives in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Molumbo stated that as the vaccination program started, more than two hundred million dosage were administered but less than 50 percent of the global population could manage an acquired an isoline as over 80percent of the vaccine was available.
He said said that the availability of the vaccine dosage in some countries were decided to keep them for possible future use while in some other countries, they are yet to have access to it.
Dr. Molumbo who advised everyone to go for the jab added that the benefits of taking the vaccines far outweigh the fear.
“It helps to prevent people from several illnesses as all the vaccine roll out are 100 percent effective when it come to preventing severe disease which is the primary objective of the roll out of the vaccination program.”
