THE Federal Government on Monday revealed that a total of 4,052,756 eligible persons have so far received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of September 12, 2021.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, made this known in Abuja during the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.
While giving the breakdown, Shuaib said this was made up of 2,645,020 persons with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,407,736 eligible persons with the first dose of Moderna vaccine.
According to him, a total of 1,692,315 eligible persons are fully vaccinated and the country currently has a national “average of 70.4% utilization of the 2,000,040 doses of Moderna vaccines we received.”
He said: “As you are aware, we have re-opened Astrazeneca administration as the first dose to eligible persons (18 years and above) who have not been vaccinated.
“I want to reiterate the need for those that have taken the first dose to go ahead to the nearest designated health facilities for their second doses.
“With the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 globally, we are beginning to see countries instituting vaccine mandates,” he stated.
He disclosed that some countries have begun asking workers to either present proof of vaccination or provide weekly COVID-19 PCR negative results in order to be allowed into public offices.
He stressed that in order to end this pandemic, the nation must achieve enough level of population immunity, that the virus essentially becomes a nuisance and no longer a threat.
He said the only way to achieve this is if eligible persons come out for vaccination and observe the non-pharmaceutical interventions. The COVID-19 vaccines remain the most effective tool against this virus.
“A recent study by the United States Centre for Disease Control (USCDC) which examined 600,000 COVID-19 cases, revealed that people who were unvaccinated were about four and a half times more likely to contract COVID-19.
“It further showed that those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 were eleven times more likely to die of the disease and ten times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease.
“We should also be mindful of the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection, which is characterized by blood clotting disorders, lung and kidney problems.
“In this regard, let me emphasize that all COVID-19 vaccines are safe and capable of protecting people against the disease. We do not promote preference of one vaccine brand over the other, and we strongly discourage mixing of vaccine brand for first and second doses,” he said.