By Abiola Olawale
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), has revealed that about 2.3 million Nigerians have registered for the Covid-19 vaccination, 24 hours after the opening of registration on its portal.
The New Diplomat had reported that NPHCDA announced the commencement of the registration for vaccination on its official website on Monday, as the country is set to kickstart its vaccination programme, Friday.
Following the arrival of about 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, on Tuesday, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of NPHCDA said about 2.3 million Nigerians registered for the COVID-19 vaccinations in less than 24 hours.
The NPHCDA Director-General made this known during a virtual meeting held in Abuja, Wednesday.
In his words: “I can tell you that there is a lot of excitement. Although some people have raised their concerns and we are trying to address them, but the enthusiasm is in less than 24 hours that the portal was launched, we have recorded about 2.3 million Nigerians who have registered to be vaccinated and the number continues to grow.”
Speaking on the delivery of the second batch of the vaccine to Nigeria, Shuaib said the agency has began work already, adding that the next doses of vaccine will be received in May.
In his words: “The balance of 12 million doses will be arriving in batches between now and the month of May. The COVAX facilities as we are all aware and ground-breaking establishment involving Gavic Alliance for Immunization and WHO is to make sure that there is equitable access to vaccines globally. In terms of what to do additionally to get the rest of the population vaccinated, right now, about 22.9 million AstraZeneca Oxford vaccines are in place and about 18 million doses of Johnson and Johnson will be procured. The next consignment of vaccine from Africa union is the 41 million which will start coming in from March to April and May.”
