Mustapha: FG working to make COVID booster shots available

The federal government says efforts are underway to make available booster shots of the COVID vaccine. 

Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation and chairman of the presidential steering committee (PSC) on COVID-19, said this on Monday at a media briefing in Abuja.

A coronavirus booster shot is an extra dose given to people to maintain vaccine-induced protection against the virus.

Some countries have started administering booster shots to people owing to the spike in infections as a result of new strains of COVID-19, including the highly infectious Delta variant.

Mustapha also said the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has enough COVID vaccine doses to administer to 50 percent of Nigeria’s target population within the next three months.

He said the mass vaccination efforts are being accelerated with arrangements to roll out a plan effective November 20.

“Efforts are also ongoing to bring on board the booster dose so as to build a healthy level of anti-bodies,” he said.

“The PSC wishes to assure Nigerians that the NPHCDA has enough vaccines in the pipeline to vaccinate about 50 percent of the target population by the end of January 2022.”

Mustapha also warned citizens against procuring fake vaccination cards, adding that those found culpable would be prosecuted.

“We have received intelligence and even detected that some unscrupulous citizens are procuring vaccination cards through the black market,” he said.

“Let me assure everyone that the vaccination records/certificates will be verified and this should serve as a warning to those criminally-minded persons to desist because they will be prosecuted accordingly.”

He added that the federal government is working with states to ensure that Nigerians get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We are gearing up to further engage with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to push through the mass vaccination programme and mandate for our citizens,” he said.

“The situation is still challenging, hence, the need to continue to strictly adhere to the non-pharmaceutical intervention measures. We are currently seeing surges in cases in some countries in Europe (especially eastern Europe) due to under vaccination.

“In other territories where massive vaccinations have occurred, the infections are rising. What we see in Nigeria right now is that there is an increase in case fatality ratio, which calls for great concern.”