By Asmau Ahmad
The Canadian government has donated 2,649,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) made this known in a post on its official Facebook page on Friday.
The official handover of the donation to Nigeria was made by the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Jamie Christoff.
In his speech, the Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib said the donation is critical to helping Nigeria ramp up the vaccination rollout process.
Dr. Shuaib said “Johnson & Johnson offers a single-dose opportunity for full vaccination, which means if you take one dose of the vaccine, you are regarded as a fully vaccinated person.
However, we strongly recommend a booster dose after two months of taking the initial dose to strengthen your level of immunity against COVID-19. A second dose of the J&J vaccine serves as the booster dose.
“May I use this opportunity to thank everyone for your support on the launch of our SCALES 3.0 vaccine deployment strategy. As we all know, we are in a full campaign mode in which COVID-19 vaccines are not only readily made available in the health facilities and other designated places, but also brought by our vaccination teams to your doorsteps.
“We are leveraging on our polio eradication experience to fight COVID-19, and we are pretty sure that with the kind of support we have received from the Canadian government today, and the continued cooperation of our partners and stakeholders, we will, sooner than expected, be able to put COVID-19 behind us in Nigeria.
“Our SCALES 3.0 also offers the opportunity for childhood vaccination and other PHC services for clients alongside the COVID-19 vaccination. What this simply means is that parents can take their eligible children for vaccination against polio, yellow fever, measles, and other vaccine-preventable childhood diseases in the same locations where the adults receive COVID-19 vaccines.
“Our mobile teams are also in possession of all these vaccines when they visit your homes. Please welcome them and present yourselves and your eligible children for vaccination as may be applicable.
“The recent MIC/NIC survey results show that despite the pandemic, Nigeria is only one of the few countries globally that recorded improved immunization coverage. I would like to thank parents and guidance who continued to take their children for vaccination even with the difficulties and challenges faced during the lockdown and limited access to health facilities.”
According to the NPHCDA boss, 40,700,979 of the eligible population have received the first dose while 28,659,698 persons have been fully vaccinated as of August 18.
He also said 2,666,830 of the fully vaccinated persons have received their booster doses.
“We enjoin the states to step up actions to flag off the SCALES 3.0 strategy and follow with intensive actions to ensure that every eligible adult and child is vaccinated. The federal government has designed a performance-based incentive to improve the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and other PHC services in the states and the communities.
“It is our hope that Nigeria and the rest of the world will overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and recover rapidly from its social and economic adversities,” he noted.
