The Federal Government has taken delivery of 859,600 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines and 175 solar direct drive refrigerators donated by the government of Japan.

It stressed that the donation will further strengthen the country’s vaccination coverage, even as over 17 million eligible populations had received their first dose of COVID-19 Vaccines

Speaking during the official handover of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines and solar direct drive refrigerators, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, said: “I am pleased to welcome and inform you that the government of Japan through the COVAX facility has donated 859,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 175 Solar Direct drive Refrigerators to aid COVID-19 response in Nigeria. Today, as we mark the one year anniversary of the first COVID-19 vaccine delivery to Nigeria, we are here to officially receive these donations to Nigeria from Japan.

FILE - A health worker shows the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during the flag-off of COVID-19 Mass Vaccination by the Nigerian government in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 19, 2021. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP) (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)FILE – A health worker shows the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during the flag-off of COVID-19 Mass Vaccination by the Nigerian government in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 19, 2021. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP) (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)On behalf of the Federal Government and people of Nigeria, I want to sincerely appreciate the government and people of Japan for this support to Nigeria at the time it is most needed. The donation of 859,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines bolsters the global effort to defeat the coronavirus pandemic and demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the global community to ensuring Nigeria receives the vaccines it needs.

“We are particularly happy about the Solar Direct Drive (SDD) Refrigerators because of their advantages in independent and uninterrupted power source for vaccine storage. We have since deployed the SDDs to 24 states of the federation based on vaccine coverage, equity and making sure we reach the last mile.

“Nigeria has continued to push through these odds, and today, we have successfully vaccinated 17,914,944 eligible persons with the first dose and this represents 16 per cent of the eligible population targeted for vaccination in Nigeria.

“We are continuing to work with stakeholders, partners and communities to ensure an inclusive campaign that stems from the transparency and accountability principles of the Federal Government. We have optimised our service delivery, communication, accountability, logistics, electronic management of immunisation data and supervision to ramp up vaccine uptake in Nigeria.

“This new strategy, conceptualised as Optimised SCALES was officially flagged off last week here in Abuja, and entails the integration of COVID-19 vaccination with childhood routine immunisation. It is a great opportunity to receive with ease childhood vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines in any of our COVID-19 mass vaccination sites.”

FG receives over 850,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from Japan (msn.com)