The Nigerian government has said it will begin the administration of the COVID-19 booster dose for eligible Nigerians from December 10, across all states of the federation.
A statement released by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) on Friday evening noted that the booster doses will only be administered on Nigerians who have completed the two doses of Astrazeneca, Moderna or Pfizer Bio-N-Tech or one dose of Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
The executive director, NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, noted in the statement that the booster dose is strictly for persons 18 years and above.
According to Mr Shuaib, a COVID-19 booster dose gives greater protection against the virus. He urged all Nigerians to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the government.
He added that Nigerians are eligible for the booster dose if they have received the second dose of AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer Bio-N-Tech within a time interval of six months or more, while two months for Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
“Consequent upon the above, eligible Nigerians are advised to visit the nearest health facility or mass vaccination site for their booster doses as from the 10th of December, 2021 across all states of the federation,” the official said.
Vaccination goal
Before the discovery of Omicron variant, which has heightened concerns on how to curb the spread of COVID-19, Nigeria had set a goal of vaccinating 40 per cent of its over 200 million population before the end of 2021, and 70 per cent by the end of 2022.
But as of November 8, 2021, the NPHCDA said it has vaccinated 5,770,899 eligible persons with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination while 3,146,885 have taken the second dose.
The director, planning research and statistics, NPHCDA, Abdullahi Garba, disclosed that these figures were achieved in the 36 states and the FCT.
He noted that there were over eight million doses of vaccines in the country at the moment, but the country was still expecting more doses.
According to the latest Reuters COVID-19 tracker, Nigeria has administered about 10.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far.
Nigeria COVID-19 Status
Since the pandemic began in 2020, Nigeria has recorded 214,317 infections and 2,978 coronavirus fatalities across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
With over 3.5 million samples tested, Nigeria has successfully treated and discharged 207,370 patients while the latest data from NCDC also showed that about 3,969 people are still down with the disease.