COVID-19: FG RECEIVES 4.4 MILLION DOSES OF J&J VACCINE FROM SPAIN

By AKOR SYLVESTER-Abuja

Effort to totally eradicate COVID-19 from the county, received a boost yesterday as federal government took delivery of over four million doses of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines from the government of Spain

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, speaking during the handover ceremony, appreciated the Spanish Government and the European Union for the support shown in helping to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added that today’s donation came when it is most needed as the available vaccines are rapidly ramping up due to the full vaccination coverage in the country.

Shuaib “the leadership displayed by the Ambassador of Spain, the European Union Ambassador and Ambassadors from the Team Europe Initiative that have contributed in no small measure to ensuring equity in the access to COVID-19 vaccines especially for low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria.”

“It is in furtherance of this initiative and the commitment of the Government of Spain that we are here today to officially receive, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, four million, four hundred thousand (4,400,000) doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Government and people of Spain to Nigeria. Much as Gracias!

“ I must let you know that this donation came when it is most needed as we are rapidly ramping up our full vaccination coverage. The single-dose regimen of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will enable us to move rapidly towards achieving herd immunity,” he said.

According to him, “AS at today, the 24th of May 2022, 29,651,708 eligible persons have received the 1st dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, and this represents 23.4% our eligible population. 14,179,966 persons have received the 2nd dose and 17,702,018 are fully vaccinated and represent 15.8% of our eligible population. 1,178,604 persons have received the booster dose.”

“These figures show that we are a far cry from our target of 70% of our eligible population. However, these donations will help towards achieving our target.

“If we keep up with vaccination, the likely scenario is that even though the virus continues to evolve, the severity of the disease will reduce over time, as the immunity increases due to vaccination.

“But If majority of our eligible population in Nigeria and globally continue to remain unvaccinated, what we may see is that a more virulent and highly transmissible variant could emerge, sooner or later which would be worse than any variant seen, “he stated.

Faisal added that, “New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic which is described as excess mortality, between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 globally was approximately 15 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).”

This means that we lost about 15million persons globally within two years as a result of the pandemic. This is heart wrenching.

Açcording to him,”Striving to vaccinate 70% of the eligible population of every country remains essential for bringing the pandemic under control and Nigeria is working hard to ensure its citizens has access to the lifesaving vaccines.”

Shuaib assured that government “will continue to work with all stakeholders, partners and communities to ensure an inclusive COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Nigeria.