Osagie Ehanire, minister of
health, says Nigeria will benefit from a proposed allocation of two billion
doses of COVID-19 vaccine meant for poorer countries.
He disclosed this at the the
presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
With more than 22 million
confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, out of which more than 700,000 deaths
have been recorded, the race for vaccines is in full force.
However, for developing countries, including Nigeria, efforts are on to secure doses of the vaccine when it is finally approved.
“Nigeria is also working with the
World Health Organisation (WHO) to finalise enrollment with the access to
COVID-19 tools (ACT) accelerator, a global mechanism tracking and sponsoring
research organisations working on COVID-19 vaccine development,” Ehanire said.
“We are also interested in the
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, a Global Alliance for Vaccines
and Immunisation (GAVI) supported global initiative, to procure and assure
equitable access to vaccines, as soon as they are available, especially for
lower and lower-middle income countries (LMIC).
“This will prioritise Nigeria for
allocation of a part of two billion vaccine doses that will be secured, in a
special plan to protect the interests of poorer countries.”
There have been various efforts
aimed at vaccine development across the world, with human trials ongoing in
some cases — the most recent is “Sputnik V”, which President Vladimir Putin of
Russia says his country has approved as a COVID-19 vaccine that works quite
effectively.
Meanwhile, according to the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), more than 50,000 COVID-19 cases have
been confirmed in 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).
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