COVID-19: Nigeria yet to meet 70% vaccination target

Nigeria’s government on Thursday said it has yet to meet its target of vaccinating at least 70 percent of the eligible population against the COVID-19 virus.

For get herd immunity against the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people in Nigeria and millions of people around the world, the government has set an ambitious goal of vaccinating 40 percent of eligible people before the end of 2021, and 70 percent by the end of 2022.

However, by the end of 2022, only about 50 percent of people eligible to be targeted for vaccination will be fully vaccinated.

Speaking at a meeting of the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on PHC Delivery (NTLC) in Abuja, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency(NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, said the fight against COVID-19 is not over until the country achieves more than 70 percent vaccination coverage.

Mr. Shuaib said as of February 8, about 68 million people, representing 57.8 percent of the eligible people targeted for vaccination had been fully vaccinated, while about 11 million people representing 11 percent of the targeted population were partially vaccinated.

He said some countries with the support of key partners have vaccinated more than 70 percent of eligible people. He noted that the role of traditional leaders in the success of vaccination and improving primary health services cannot be overemphasized.

key partner

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said the gains made over the years in PHC service delivery and vaccination were largely due to the role of traditional leaders.

Mr. Ehanire said that with more than 60 million eligible people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the country has made tremendous progress in the vaccination campaign.

“Despite progress, there are pockets of vaccine denial and misunderstanding.

“It just means that there are people out there who don’t know how to get the vaccine, so we need to strengthen sensitization at the community level to make sure everyone is vaccinated,” he said.

Go forward

In his speech, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, said NTLC would continue to work with the ministry of health and the immunization agency, NPHCDA.

Represented by the Emir of Shonga, Ndansua Yahaya, he said the review meetings were important for the exchange of ideas and would also pave the way for further learning.

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