COVID-19: Buhari, Osinbajo to pick dates to be vaccinated publicly- Official

On Saturday, March 6, ”key strategic leaders will receive the first dose of the vaccine”.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo will pick dates on which they will be vaccinated publicly, with the first batch of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is about four million doses, expected to arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday.

The Executive Director, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 briefing on Monday in Abuja.

Mr Shuaib said that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, would liaise with other key strategic persons to fix the date for the public vaccination aimed at protecting Nigerians against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Shuaib said: “I once again assure Nigerians that all necessary safety and quality control measures have been put in place for the arrival, storage and successful administration of the vaccine in the country. There is going to be a small ceremony, chaired by the Chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, to receive the vaccine at the VIP Protocol section, General Aviation Terminal of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

“At the end of the ceremonies to mark the arrival of the vaccines, a few vials of the vaccines would be handed over to the NAFDAC team fo analysis over a period of two days (Wednesday, March 3rd and Thursday, March 4th).

“Further to the clearance by NAFDAC, the PTF, FMOH, NPHCDA and strategic leaders will be at the treatment centre of the National Hospital on Friday, March 5th 2021, where the first vaccination site will be set up to commence the vaccination of the frontline health workers and support staff. These staff would also be electronically registered in the COVID-19 vaccine database and would receive their COVID-19 vaccination card which has a QR code that can be verified worldwide. On Saturday, March 6th, key strategic leaders will receive the first dose of the vaccine.

“On Monday, March 8th, 2021, more vaccination sites would have been set up at designated locations such as National Assembly clinic, State House clinic and Federal medical centre, Jabi, where strategic leaders such as the SGF, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Attorney General of the Federation, Inspector General of Police, the Ministers and Ministers of States, Senators, House of Representatives, traditional leaders and religious leaders would be vaccinated.

“After this launch and initial roll-out phase, vaccine distribution to the states for the first phase vaccination process will begin. This phase is the vaccination of all frontline health workers, their supporting staff and strategic leaders. Deployment of vaccines to the states would be based on the assessment of their level of preparedness. Some of the parameters that would be used for the assessment include adequate maintenance of their cold chain storage facilities, adequate preparation for logistic transportation to the ward/ health facility, adequate security in place during transportation and at vaccination sites, completion of training of health workers, efficient social mobilisation activities in place, adherence to the protocol for vaccine deployment.

”Working with CACOVID, plans are on the ground for a cargo plane provided by them to transport the vaccines to the states by air. States without a functional airport will have their vaccines transported by road using vans with fitted Cold Cabins, from the nearest airport. The vaccines will be stored at the State Cold Stores, from where they will be transported by road to LGA Cold Stores.