Nigeria runs out of COVID vaccine amid third wave of infections

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says Nigeria has exhausted the COVID-19 vaccine it received in the first vaccination phase.

Faisal Shuaib, the agency’s executive director, said this at the south-west zonal town hall meeting on COVID-19 vaccination in Lagos on Thursday.

This is as the country is witnessing a third wave of infections with reported cases on the rise.

Speaking at the meeting, the director said the country has used up 98 percent of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine it received in March and has officially ended the first phase of the vaccination plan.

“Nigeria has successfully utilized 3,938,945 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines across 36 States and FCT, representing 98% utilization of the 4,024,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine it received from COVAX facility in March 2021. This comprises of 2,534,205 people who have been vaccinated for first dose, and 1,404,205 who have received their second dose of the vaccine. This is to say, that all vaccines given to Nigeria in this 1st phase has been exhausted,” he said.

“Accordingly, the country has officially ended the first phase of its strategic COVID-19 vaccination plan.

As a result, Nigerians who have only received the first dose, are currently unable to receive a second dose.

The director, however, said Nigeria is now preparing to commence the second phase in the next few weeks with three additional brands of COVID-19 vaccines expected.

“As plans and preparation for the second phase commences, a ‘whole family approach’ vaccination mechanism would be utilized,” he said.

“We have also received communication for the delivery of the following vaccine shipments in the coming months.

“3,924,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca by end of July or early August 2021 from the COVAX facility.

“4,000,080 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in August from the COVAX facility donated by the United States Government

“3,577,860 doses of Pfizer-Bio-N Tech COVID-19 vaccine in Q3 from the COVAX facility

“29,850,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson (Jassen) COVID-19 vaccine by the end of September, that will arrive in batches from the African Union Commission.

“In preparation for the arrival of these vaccines, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency is putting in place all necessary logistics for storage, distribution, security, and accountability for the range of vaccines we are expecting.”