By Haruna Gimba
The Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19 said the vaccine when procured by the Federal Government, will be administered to Nigerians free when the vaccination begins.
Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
According to him, the government has adequate plan on delivering and administering the vaccine and assured that Nigerians will be freely vaccinated.
“Yesterday, the President gave the PTF the mandate to proceed with preparations with regard to the vaccine. The President has also given us a marching order that the COVID-19 vaccine be made available in Nigeria.
“The COVID-19 vaccine will be available in Nigeria making use of the GAVI arrangement. We already have the assurance that we will have 20 percent of our population accommodated by GAVI, which are about 40 million Nigerians. They won’t need to pay for that (the vaccine),” Aliyu said.
While admitting the fears that Nigerians may be reluctant to receive shots of the vaccines, Aliyu said efforts are being made to sensitise many and deliver the vaccines across the country.
He said: “We have continued to work with the Federal Ministry of Health and Primary Healthcare Development Agency. The NPHCDA has a lot of experience in delivering vaccines across the country.
“They were involved with the polio vaccination and even at the moment, they are responsible for the delivery of the growth in child vaccination across the country, so they have a lot of experience.
“A lot of work is going on behind the scene. The NPHCDA has a committee, the Minister has set up an advisory committee and the PTF is now coming in to make sure we coordinate effectively.
Dr Aliyu added that the biggest challenge to have with the vaccine is not going to be the logistics, “the biggest challenge will be the public acceptance of the safety of the vaccines and allowing themselves to be vaccinated, the challenge will be very similar to the one we have with polio.”
