People in Ojodu-Berger in Lagos.
Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekpei / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekpei / AFP / Getty Images
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Nigeria has not yet bought any vaccine against Covid-19, as Africa’s most populous nation is still evaluating the prices of different shots, their availability and the logistics needed in a nationwide deployment.
State Health Minister Adeleke Olurunnimbe Mamora said that once the government determines which vaccines are accessible and affordable, authorities will need to consider storage and distribution issues as they prepare to fire 200 million of people.
“We haven’t made any purchases at the moment,” Mamora, who is the ministry’s second-highest-ranking official, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview. He added that the government expects to have a final plan by the end of January.
A state governor and experts said an ambitious target of vaccinating up to 40% of Nigeria’s population this year has been questioned by the lack of resources and infrastructure in a nation plagued by daily power cuts and abandoned roads and bridges.
More than 37.9 million shots fired: Covid-19 vaccine follower
Faisal Shuaib, CEO of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said on Thursday that the country hopes to receive 100,000 doses of Pfizer Inc. was shot in late January through the Covax initiative. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Shuaib said the West African nation has secured services for ultra-cold storage facilities to maintain and distribute vaccines.
Covax is a global initiative in the hands of World Health Organization that aims to provide equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.
Read more: Exhaustion of exhausted nurses in South African wards full of virus cases
Although the number of infections in Africa has decreased compared to other regions, an increase in cases has raised fears that the pathogen could spread more quickly on a continent ill-prepared for it.
There are hospitals all over Africa, from South Africa to Senegal and Zimbabwe which struggles with an increase in infections that outweighs healthcare facilities that no longer have beds, basic equipment and staff.
Nigeria has officially reported 107,345 cases, with 1,413 deaths, but the tests are not easily accessible to most people, so far only about 1.1 million have been conducted.
– With the assistance of Alonso Soto
(Updates with comments from Mamora, Covax reference from the third paragraph.)