Nigeria Receives 3.94 Million Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccines Through WHO’s COVAX Program

Nigeria has finally received the much-awaited 3.94 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX).

COVAX, an initiative led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), aims to deliver almost 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the world by the end of the year, including 1.8 billion to poorer countries at no cost to their governments.

A presidential aide, Bashir Ahmad, announced on his Twitter page that “Nigeria has just received the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine,”

The 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine arrived at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in the capital, Abuja, ushered by top government officials at a short ceremony on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.

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With the delivery, Nigeria becomes the third West African country after Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire to receive the vaccine from the COVAX Facility.

It is the first of such shipments expected to be made to Nigeria in the efforts to control the spread of the COVID-19.

In a statement, the United Nations (UN) in Nigeria, said the arrival marked a historic step towards the goal to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally.

#COVID19 vaccines have just arrived in Nigeria. #Nigeria has received 3.92 Million doses of the #AstraZeneca #COVID19 vaccine via #COVAX. This is a historic step towards our goal to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally. #VaccinEquity pic.twitter.com/YuKbmgzz8h

— WHO Nigeria (@WHONigeria) March 2, 2021

This is coming six days after Ghana received the world’s first delivery of coronavirus vaccines from the COVAX initiative.