In less than 24 hours after the arrival of four million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, about 2.3 million Nigerians across the country have registered for vaccination.
This follows the recent rise in daily confirmed cases and deaths recorded across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, announced the figure yesterday.
He stated this while dispelling fears that people might not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 due to many impressions surrounding the vaccines’ origin.
According to him: “I can tell you that there is a lot of excitement about the vaccines’ arrival. I know some people have their concerns and we are trying, but I want to give you an example of the enthusiasm that Nigerians are showing around wanting to take these vaccines.
“Around midday on Monday when we launched the e-registration platform, in less than 24 hours, we already had up to 2.3m Nigerians who had registered. And that number continues to increase,” Shuaib said during an interview on a live television programme.
Earlier we had reported that the country, on Tuesday received 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India(SII) and shipped via the COVAX facility.
Recall also that the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has said that Nigerians under the age of 18 years will not participate in the planned mass vaccination.
The Task Force had also warned that private organizations were not permitted to procure, distribute and administer the coronavirus vaccines.
