President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday – 6th of March received jabs of the COVID-19 vaccines at the State House, Abuja.

The vaccines were administered by the president’s chief physician, Suhayb Rafidadi, at about 11.52 a.m. The vice president – Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was also vaccinated by his physician, Nicholas Audifferen, immediately after the president received his dose.


The vaccination process was streamed on live television to encourage other Nigerians to accept the vaccines.


“Today, as a demonstration of leadership and faith in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, I have received my first jab and I wish to commend it to all eligible Nigerians, to do same so that we can be protected from the virus,” Mr Buhari said after his vaccination.


“It was driven by a collective knowledge of the fact that ‘no country is safe until every country is safe,” he said.
He acknowledged that the speedy development of the COVID-19 vaccines is significant and depictes the collective resolve of humanity to overcome the pandemic.


He appealed to all state governments, traditional and religious leaders, to take the lead in the mobilization effort within their environment and spheres of influence.

Flashback


Nigeria on Tuesday took delivery of nearly four million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to the country in batches over the next few months. The vaccines are being provided by COVAX, an unprecedented global effort to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.


Upon arrival, samples were handed to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) for further examination.
The agency certified the vaccines safe and effective for use on Thursday night, according to Nigerian’s health minister, Osagie Ehanire.

On Friday, 5th of March, Cyprian Ngong, a medical doctor, became the first person to receive a jab of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in Nigeria. Three other health workers were also vaccinated during the flag-off event at the National Hospital in Abuja.


Phases of the vaccination process



Phase 1- Health workers, frontline workers, COVID-19 rapid response team, laboratory network, police officers, petrol station workers and strategic leaders are among those to be vaccinated in the first phase of Nigeria’s vaccine rollout.


“Phase 2 – Older adults aged 50 years and above. Those with co-morbidities aged 18 – 49 years of age,” Mr Shuaib said.

Phase 3 – Those in states/LGAs with high disease burden and who missed phases 1 and 2.

“Phase 4 – Other eligible population as vaccines become available.”

Adebayo Emmanuel