The federal government has said health workers and vulnerable citizens will be the first beneficiaries of the 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered to the country in early next year.
The development was confirmed in a statement by the executive secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, during the presidential task force on COVID-19 press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, December 10.
Shuaibu stated yesterday that Nigeria is a member of COVAX, an international coalition under the WHO umbrella, adding that upon arrival of the vaccines, it will first be given to workers in the health sector and vulnerable citizens.
He said; “We are on course to access safe vaccine in the first quarter of 2021. We will be leveraging on the polio platform to ensure effective delivery of vaccines to our vulnerable population.
“We have established a supra-ministerial advisory committee to ensure a seamless administration. A technical group meets every week and has devised a risk communication plan to deliver safe vaccines to Nigerians.”
In another news earlier, AFNews reported that the federal government of Nigeria has put all COVID-19 isolation centres nationwide on a re-opening alert over the recent increases in daily records of Coronavirus infection.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, made this known on Thursday while speaking at the presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing.