Zainab Ahmed: N29.1bn released for COVID vaccine deployment

The federal government says it has disbursed N29.1 billion to the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) for the deployment of COVID vaccine.

The amount is drawn from the routine immunization budgetary provision and represents about 52 percent of the operational cost required over 2021 and 2022.

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, disclosed this at the 8th general assembly of the collaborative Africa budget reform initiative (CABRI) held recently.

She said the government remains committed to procuring 29.588 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine through the AVAT initiative — coordinated by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

On April 26, the federal government announced that it had signed off to receive doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine through the African Union (AU).

Ahmed said: “The supplementary budget for COVID-19 vaccines will cover the cost of additional vaccines over and above those provided by COVAX, as well as the full cost of operations and logistics for delivering the vaccine around the country.

She said the World Bank has indicated willingness to provide needed facilities to support the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination plan which is to vaccinate 70 percent of Nigerians, from 18 years and above, over the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years.

The minister said Nigeria has received commitments from COVAX for COVID-19 vaccines that could cover 43.1 million of the eligible population, as donations from some development partners.

Speaking on the federal government’s response to the pandemic, she said N500 billion was allocated for COVID-19 crisis intervention fund in the 2020 revised budget, as part of a N2.3 trillion economic sustainability plan (ESP).

Ahmed further said that several cost control measures were introduced with non-essential expenditures deferred massive investments were made to strengthen the health sector.