An additional 18,917 persons received their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, taking the total number of vaccinated people in the country to 1,133,325.
This is according to an update by the
"As of today,
According to the update,
This is followed by
Having received 3.94 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in early March,
The country received another 300,000 doses of the
The Covishield is a brand of the
The current phase of vaccination covers health workers and other frontline workers although Nigerians from other groups are also getting vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the head of NPHCDA,
"We have been careful to ensure that only those who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the current phase are being vaccinated.
"These include health workers and their support staff, other frontline workers, strategic leaders and in the last few days, we have also included those who meet the age requirements," he said.
To achieve herd immunity against COVID-19,
"About 70 per cent of the total population needs to receive the COVID-19 vaccines to completely eradicate the virus,"
He said about 40 per cent will be vaccinated in 2021, while the remaining 30 per cent will be covered in 2022.
With only about 4.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines available in the country, health experts say
Due to the limited doses of vaccine available, the Nigerian government directed states to halt vaccination once they use half of the doses allocated to them.
"We believe that in a situation where, we still cannot specifically determine when the next batch of
Although there has been controversy over the safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine,
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