A donation of 2.5 million Pfizer vaccine doses was announced by the US government this week.
The US Embassy in Nigeria on December 9, 2021, said that Nigeria has received more than 13.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, either in collaboration with COVAX or independently.
National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) obtained the vaccines and guaranteed they were transported to cold storage before being delivered to over 3,000 health centers in all 36 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.
As part of Nigeria’s mass vaccination effort, the vaccines would be distributed at major metropolitan areas, shopping malls, event centers, parking lots, airports, workplaces, and religious institutions.
In addition to the vaccine, the US embassy also said, “This includes a 40-bed mobile field hospital, ventilators and related training for 88 hospitals, personal protective equipment, technical assistance for vaccine readiness, risk communication and demand generation for vaccines, conducting an epidemiological COVID-19 detection and vaccine hesitancy survey, setting up electronic record systems, rapid response teams, training for over 200,000 military and civilian personnel on COVID-19 control measures, and technology for virtual training.’’
The United States also used the PEPFAR-funded National Integrated Specimen Referral Network (NiSRN) and laboratory investments to enable the nationwide development of the NCDC (153) molecular laboratory network. The US is determined to assist throughout the end of the pandemic in Nigeria and elsewhere.
