The Federal Government has decried the rumor that the speculation that the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccines that just arrived in the country have not been reserved for ”rich people”.
Dr. Faisal Shuaib, executive director of, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said this while speaking during an interview with newsmen.
Recall that Kemi Filani reported that up to four million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as shipped through the COVAX facility in partnership with CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO to Nigeria on Tuesday.
A total of 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine landed in Abuja at noon on Tuesday.
The agency boss, while speaking on the arrival of the vaccines, said, “We are protecting the vaccines very closely; we’ve increased security around the vaccines to make sure that unauthorized access is not possible.
“So, we are waiting on NAFDAC. We feel that they are going to do all of the checks that are necessary, and once they give us the green light, we will be ready to roll out the vaccines.”
When queried whether the vaccines have been distributed among the influential people in the nation, Shuaib said, “I will tell you categorically that we have not allotted these vaccines to the rich people or to the people in the urban areas, absolutely not. Mr. President has been very clear.
“Mr. Vice President has also added his voice, and the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force has communicated this at the Presidential Task Force media briefings. He has made it very clear in terms of who we are going to prioritize, and I will repeat it here again that the first set of people who are going to be taking these vaccines are those people who have sacrificed in the last year taking care of all Nigerians that have come down with Covid-19. So, the frontline health workers.
“So, we are waiting on NAFDAC. We feel that they are going to do all of the checks that are necessary, and once they give us the green light, we will be ready to roll out the vaccines.”
