Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari will receive the COVID-19 vaccine at his Aso Villa residence and that will be shown live on television.
Mamora made this disclosure while he appeared as a guest on News Central’s signature news show, Village Square Africa.
Among other things, he remarked that the strategic leadership of the country will be vaccinated, in order to reinstate the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines to Nigerians.
Nigeria, through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency has put mechanisms in place to ensure that the vaccines are not found in stores where they’ll be sold to Nigerians.
Several agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS) will be involved in ensuring the accountability of the vaccines.
Mamora pointed out that vaccination will begin on Friday, beginning with frontline health workers in hospitals where the disease is being battled.
Before vaccination commences, the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will run an analysis on the vaccines in line with the dossier earlier provided, the Minister noted.
Other leaders in the country will receive their shots on Monday at the National Hospital while other Nigerians will have to be registered in order to get vaccinated.
People with comorbidities will be prioritised, alongside individuals who are older than 50 years.
Internationally recognised bar codes will be created for registered people who take the shots.
South African Strain and AstraZeneca
Mamora said the B.1.351 strain which has been found to be highly infectious has not been discovered in Nigeria, revealing that vaccination will go on with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which regrettably lacks potency against that strain.
Nigeria received almost 4million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday through the COVAX facility, joining Ghana and Ivory Coast as the only three countries to have received the vaccines through the facility so far.
By getting vaccinated on live TV, President Buhari will join Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa as leaders who have encouraged the citizens by being exemplary.