COVID-19 vaccine: First batch lands in Nigeria

The first batch of the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine has landed in Nigeria, today 2nd March, 2021.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

Most people who fall sick with COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate symptoms and recover without special treatment.

As at the time of publishing this report, there has been over 156,000 confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria, with almost 2,000 deaths being recorded.

There was a race to the production of the COVID-19 vaccine globally, as countries looked to return affairs to normalcy.

Nigeria has now received its first batch of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The 3.92 million doses of the vaccines arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on board an Emirates Boeing 777-300 on Tuesday afternoon March 2.

The Federal government has said health care workers will first be vaccinated.

Edward Kallon, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, reiterated the commitment of the UN to support the vaccination campaign in the country and help contain the spread of the virus.

“The arrival of these vaccines in Abuja today marks a milestone for the COVAX Facility in its unprecedented effort to deliver at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines globally by the end of 2021.

“The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine will enable the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to commence the vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with frontline healthcare workers,” he said.