Daily COVID Tracker: Private healthcare providers to give jabs as FG expands vaccination

Here are five updates about the pandemic this Friday. 

US donates 3.5m Pfizer COVID vaccine doses to Nigeria

The United States has donated 3,577,860 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Nigeria through the COVAX initiative.

The US Mission in Nigeria announced the donation in a statement issued on Thursday.

“The shipment will bring the total number of US bilaterally donated doses to Nigeria to over 7.5 million. The US also contributed to the first multilateral donation of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021. Overall, COVAX has provided Nigeria with over 10 million doses to date,” the statement reads.

FG expands COVID vaccination to private healthcare providers

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says it has commenced the process of decentralising COVID-19 vaccination in the country to include private healthcare providers.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the NPHCDA, disclosed this on Thursday at a media briefing in Abuja.

This means that private healthcare providers will be able to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to people under the regulation of NPHCDA.

“I am also glad to inform you that we have commenced the process of decentralising COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria, to include private health care providers. This is to expand access and increase the utilisation of the vaccines,” Shuaib said.

He also warned against acquiring fake COVID vaccination cards, adding that the federal government is “working with relevant security agencies to make examples of these individuals who may wish to buy or sell the cards by naming and shaming them”.

“We are also enhancing the security features of our vaccination cards in order to limit forgeries,” he added.

US FDA advisers back Moderna COVID booster dose

A panel of expert advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday voted to recommend Moderna COVID vaccine booster shots for people aged 65 and above and those at high risk of severe illness.

If approved by the FDA, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will make specific recommendations on the categories of people to get the shots.

US to donates 17 million J&J doses to African Union

President Joe Biden says the US will donate 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to the African Union (AU).

Biden disclosed this in a meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday at the White House.

Biden said the batch of 17 million doses is an addition to 50 million the US has already donated to the African Union.

Study: No adverse effect requiring hospitalisation after receiving COVID vaccine in Nigeria

NPHCDA says a study conducted by the agency has shown that there are no adverse effects that require hospitalisation after taking the COVID vaccine.

The agency said it conducted a study across six states of the federation to “monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in enrolled adult individuals 18 years and above who have received the authorised COVID-19 vaccines”. The six states are Anambra, Borno, Edo, Katsina, Lagos and Plateau.

“Findings of this study showed that 52.6% of enrollees (1,284 were enrolled) reported non-serious adverse effects and only 1 subject or 0.08% reported serious adverse effects in the first week following vaccination,” NPHCDA said.

“None of the enrolled subjects who reported adverse effects required hospitalisation,” it added.