The Federal Government has postponed the administration of the second batch of the Covid-19 Moderna vaccine donated by the United States government.
The government announced that the administration of the second phase of the 4 million Covid-19 vaccine which was expected to kick start on Tuesday would now commence on August 16, 2021.
This disclosure was made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Monday when he featured on “Good Morning Nigeria’’ a live programme of the Nigerian Television Authority.
According to NAN, the minister said that the postponement of the vaccination exercise from Tuesday, August 10 to August 16 was purely administrative.
What the Minister of Information and Culture
Mohammed said, “We have received 4,80,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and we will commence administering the doses on Monday, August 16. The exercise was supposed to commence tomorrow Aug. 10, but we suspended it till Monday, and the reason is purely administrative.
“You see, when vaccines arrive the country, they are taken to National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The agency which will analyse them and thereafter give us a green light for the use.’’
The minister denied reports in certain publications that the exercise was postponed indefinitely over concerns raised by some experts on the propriety of using Moderna vaccines.
He said, like the first batch of the Astrazeneca Vaccine which had been fully administered without hitch, the doses of Moderna vaccine donated to the country by the US were safe and meant to save lives.
He said, “I want to thank Nigerians for the way they responded to the first batch of Astrazeneca Vaccine. I can say authoritatively that we succeeded in administering the four million doses of the vaccine and we do not have a single expired vaccine.
“They were all administered to the targeted population. I want to encourage Nigerians to come out also to take the Moderna vaccine.
The minister also disclosed that the second phase of the vaccination exercise would target people from 18 years and younger because the younger ones, even in the US, were now becoming more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and attack
Mohammed underscored the need for people to come out to take the vaccine stressing that Nigeria has entered the third wave of COVID-19.
He explained that the Delta variant of COVID-19 pandemic which is more virulent and deadly had been recorded in some states since July.
In case you missed it
It can be recalled that the Federal Government on Saturday said it will begin to administer the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines it received earlier this month on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.
The latest tranche, over 4 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which was donated by the US government was received by Nigeria on August 2, 2021.
The US government last week shipped nearly 10 million doses to two of the most populous African countries – Nigeria and South Africa.
