Nigeria To Take Delivery Of 176,000 J&J Covid-19 Vaccine On Wednesday
Nigeria is expected to take delivery of 176,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday.
Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, confirmed this development at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to him, the J&J vaccine, like the AstraZeneca, is safe and effective against the coronavirus disease, including the deadlier Delta variant.
The J&J vaccine is a single-shot vaccine.
It will boost Nigeria’s COVID-19 fight with the Delta variant sparking fears of a third wave of the pandemic.
Dr. Shuaib had earlier announced that the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme would begin soon.
The exercise had earlier been scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but it was postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to a spokesperson in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey.
The need for the rollout of the second batch of the vaccines has, however, become crucial as Nigeria gradually returns to seeing a spike in infections.
As of Monday, 422 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the country, with five more deaths.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the infections were recorded in nine states. Lagos maintained the lead with 190 cases, followed by Rivers (86) and Ogun (85).
Others are Oyo (22), FCT (20), Kwara (7), Edo (5), Abia (4), and Bayelsa (3).
