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By Juliet Nwabiani Okafor @AuntyJVIN

The first wave of the much-expected Covid-19 Covax AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines finally arrived in Nigeria from Mumbai, India, this Tuesday, March 2, 2021, through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Nigeria is the third West African country, after Ghana and Cote'Ivoire, to get the initial shipments of the Covid-19 vaccines.

Nigeria's Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, was on hand to receive the vaccine which was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The delivery is part of the first batch of arrivals in Nigeria that will continue in the coming days and weeks.

The crated consignments of the vaccines arrived at exactly 12:05 pm in line with the earlier announcement and assurances, last weekend, by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha. About 3.92 million doses of the anti-corona virus vaccine were shipped through the COVAX Facility, a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO. 

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon shortly after the delivery of the consignments of the vaccines to the Nigerian shores, the United Nations Office in Nigeria said the arrival marked a historic step towards the goal to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in what will be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history.

COVID 19 vaccine2

According to the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, “The UN Country Team in Nigeria reiterates its commitment to support the vaccination campaign in Nigeria 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. This is a landmark moment for the country and the COVAX Facility’s mission to help end the acute phase of the pandemic by enabling equitable access to these vaccines across the world", kallon said.

Also, Mr. Thabani Maphosa, the Managing Director for Country Programmes at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said: "This is a landmark moment for the country and the COVAX Facility’s mission to help end the acute phase of the pandemic by enabling equitable access to these vaccines across the world. We are glad to see that Nigeria is amongst the first to receive the doses from COVAX, thanks to the excellent level of preparedness put in place by the Government of Nigeria. Gavi looks forward to these vaccines being made available to the people most at risk, as soon as possible, and to ensure that routine immunization services for other life-threatening infections are also delivered to avoid other disease outbreaks.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, stated that: “It is heart-warming to witness this epoch-making event and WHO wishes to congratulate the government of Nigeria for its participation in the global vaccine collaboration (COVAX) efforts and its commitment to protecting Nigerians against this pandemic. Vaccines are a critical new tool in the battle against COVID-19; therefore, this is a step in the right direction. These vaccines have undergone rigorous regulatory processes at global and country-level and have been deemed safe and effective.” 

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. The COVAX Facility is expected to deliver around 90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the African Region in the first quarter of 2021 and has committed to providing up to 600 million doses to the region by the end of 2021 to cover 20 percent of the population.

UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins said that “After a year of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, today (Tuesday, March 2, 2021), we celebrate the efforts being made in getting the vaccine to Nigeria. With more than 150,000 Nigerians infected with the virus and over 1,800 lives lost, the path to recovery for the people of Nigeria can finally begin. This is a very significant occasion - the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines into Nigeria is critical in curbing the pandemic. The only way out of this crisis is to ensure that vaccinations are available to all.” 

WHO however said the COVAX Facility thanks the governments, foundation, and other donors who contributed to making this milestone happen – including the generous support of the European Commission, countries of the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

For several months, COVAX partners have been supporting governments and partners in readiness efforts, in preparation for this moment of the vaccine delivery. They have been especially active in working with some of the world’s poorest countries: those that will benefit from the Advance Market Commitment (AMC), an innovative financial mechanism to help secure global and equitable access for COVID-19 vaccines. This includes assisting with the development of national vaccination plans, support for cold chain infrastructure, as well as stockpiling of half a billion syringes and safety boxes for their disposal, masks, gloves, and other equipment to ensure that there is enough equipment for health workers to start vaccinating priority groups as soon as possible.

In order for doses to be delivered to COVAX Facility participants via this first allocation round, several critical pieces must be in place, including confirmation of national regulatory authorization criteria related to the vaccines delivered, indemnification agreements, national vaccination plans from AMC participants, as well as other logistical factors such as export and import licenses.

As participants fulfill the above criteria and finalize readiness preparations, COVAX issues purchase orders to the manufacturer and ships and deliver doses via an iterative process. This means deliveries for the first round of allocation are taking place on a rolling basis and in tranches.  

COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with UNICEF, the World Bank, civil society organizations, manufacturers, and others. COVAX is part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.  

COVAX has built a diverse portfolio of vaccines suitable for a range of settings and populations and is on track to meet its goal of delivering at least 2 billion doses of vaccine to participating countries around the globe in 2021, including at least 1.3 billion donor-funded doses to the 92 lower-income COVAX Facility participants supported by the Gavi COVAX AMC. 

The Director-General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, said in a statement that his agency has commenced training of health workers that will administer the vaccine. He also said the Cold Chain facility for the storage of the vaccine is ready at all levels.

Earlier in February, the federal government had said the World Health Organisation (WHO) failed to shortlist Nigeria for the Pfizer vaccine not because Nigeria has no facility to store the vaccine but because of the death rate of the covid-19 virus in other African countries. The NPHCDA boss, Faisal Shuaib, also affirmed that the reason for giving priority attention to some other African countries in the vaccine distribution exercise was primarily because of the rising number of new cases being recorded there, the trend in the number of cases, the population of the country and the availability of the cold chain equipment for the storage of the vaccines.

The Covid-19 vaccine is said to be made by scientists from a weakened version of a common cold virus from Chimpanzees known as Adenovirus. It was however modified to look more like coronavirus though it does not cause the illness. Once the vaccine is injected into the body, it will aid the immune system of the body in how to fight the virus in case it needs to.

Scientific Research studies have shown that the vaccine is highly effective. Anyone that has ever been injected with the vaccine for trials has not developed a severe Covid case or needs hospital treatment.

Unlike Pfizer jab which can be kept at an extremely cold temperature of 70 degrees centigrade, this Oxford vaccine can be stored in the normal fridge. It makes it easier to distribute. According to official information, health workers who are in isolation at treatment centers across Nigeria will be the first set of people to be administered the vaccine. Others are frontline workers like the immigration officers at the airport, some leaders, police and customs officers, covid laboratory workers, older people who are from fifty years and above, and people who are not old but are suffering from serious life-threatening ailments.

In terms of the cost of procuring the anti-covid vaccine, the government has assured that there is no cost yet attached to it. The vaccination will be given free to every bonafide citizen of Nigeria. This is essential because the vaccines were free donations to needy countries from the Covax facility. The Nigerian government however hopes to purchase more doses of the Covid-19 vaccines just like other African countries like South Africa that have paid to procure one million doses of the vaccine to immunize their citizens. NNL.

 
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