COVID-19 vaccine: Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi, Oyo to receive more doses – NPHCDA

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has revealed that Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi and Oyo will receive more doses of the vaccines for health workers.

The details of how the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses will be distributed across states was disclosed during a webinar organised by NHPCDA tagged “sensitisation meeting with media gatekeepers on Covid-19 vaccine introduction”.

The Federal Government intends to administer the vaccine to at least 40 percent of Nigerians in 2021, and another 30 percent in 2022.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the NPHCDA, said the country would receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/ Biontech vaccine at the end of January.

According to the data shared by NPHCDA, Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi and Oyo would receive more doses for health workers.

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The breakdown is as follows: Kano, 3,557; Lagos, 3,131; Katsina, 2,361; Kaduna, 2,074; Bauchi, 1,900; Oyo, 1,848; Rivers, 1,766; Jigawa, 1,712; Niger, 1,558; Ogun, 1,473; Sokoto, 1,468; Benue, 1,423; Borno, 1,416; Anambra, 1,379; Kebbi, 1,361; Zamfara, 1,336; Rivers, 1,306; Imo, 1,267; Ondo, 1,228; Akwa Ibom, 1,161.

Others are: Adamawa, 1,129; Edo, 1,104; Plateau, 1,089; Enugu, 1,088; Osun, 1,032; Kogi, 1,030; Cross River, 1,023; Abia, 955; Gombe, 908; Yobe, 842; Ekiti, 830; Taraba, 830; Kwara, 815; Ebonyi, 747; Bayelsa, 589; FCT, 695; Nasarawa, 661.

“The vaccines would be administered around the last week of January or early February. States with higher percentage of confirmed cases would be given additional doses,” Bassey Okposen, programme manager, national emergency routine immunisation coordination centre, NPHCDA, said during his presentation at the webinar on Friday.

According to Okposen, frontline health workers would be prioritised, while other batches would be administered to the elderly and vulnerable persons with co-morbidities based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

“We have other sources of vaccine that are non-mrna like the COVAX vaccine. The country and other stakeholders are working towards how they can get additional vaccines from the other countries like Russia and USA.”

“We want to assure all Nigerians that the vaccine is safe and effective. The vaccine will be introduced in four phases and this is due to the availability and quantity of the vaccine that will come in at any given time,” he said

Okposen noted that when the vaccine arrives, in the plan, there is going to be the prioritisation of persons to be given the vaccination so as to optimise the available resources and vaccines that will be received and this will be based on global best practices.

“In the first priority, when the limited doses first come in towards the end of this month and early February, will be the frontline health workers like immigration, airport, police and military on essential duties, those working in the labs and other medical practitioners.