Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Nigeria has administered the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as efforts heighten to fight the pandemic.
The first shot of the vaccine was given to Cyprian Nyong, a medical doctor at the National Hospital, Abuja.
Faisal Shuaib, chief executive officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), administered the dosage.
He said the doctor has been on the frontline since Nigeria’s first case of COVID-19.
The second medical doctor who was administered the vaccine was said to have attended to 10,549 patients since the pandemic.
The historic moment came exactly a year and six days after Nigeria confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus on February 27.
Since then, 158,000 Nigerians have contracted the virus out of which 1,951 have died.
On Tuesday, the long-awaited vaccines arrived in the country courtesy of the COVAX facility which donated 3.9 million doses to Nigeria.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) gave the final approval for use of the vaccine in Nigeria hours before the launch.
The federal government, on Monday, asked Nigerians to register for COVID-19 vaccination via the portal of the NPHCDA.
T.E.A.C.H, a strategy for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines was also launched to fast-track the vaccination process.
According to the NPHCDA, frontline health workers, COVID-19 rapid response teams, laboratory network, petrol station workers and strategic leaders will be among the first to be vaccinated.
Adults aged 50 years and above and those with underlying health conditions will also be vaccinated in its phase two rollout.
You can read more about the federal government’s vaccine rollout plan here.
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