Nigeria to begin administering second batch of COVID vaccines Tuesday

Nigeria will begin administering the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines from August 10, the presidential steering committee (PSC) on COVID-19 said on Saturday.

Willie Bassey, the director of press, PSC on COVID-19, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja.

He said the commencement of the second batch vaccination is pertinent as the country battles the third wave of the pandemic.

“The PSC has received over four million doses of Moderna vaccine donated by the U.S. Government to Nigeria.

“In view of the above, the inoculation is scheduled from Tuesday, Aug. 10, at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, off Airport road, Abuja,” he said.

The federal government on August 1 received 4.08m doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States.

The vaccine doses were received by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on behalf of the federal government and stored at the country’s National Strategic Cold Store near Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

The Moderna vaccine had been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and approved by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

It is the second batch of vaccines received by Nigeria after the country had run out of the initial four million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine received from the COVAX facility.