The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has announced that the Moderna vaccines received by Nigeria have already been distributed to 29 states to prepare for vaccination.
This was disclosed by NPHCDA boss, Dr Faisal Shuaib, at a media briefing on the progress of phase 2 Covid-19 vaccinations held in Abuja on Tuesday.
What the NPHCDA boss said
“So far, we have deployed Moderna vaccines to 29 States. It is pertinent to state that we could not deploy the vaccines immediately after NAFDAC certification because, unlike AstraZeneca, the Moderna vaccine did not come with complete barcoding. And this is absolutely needed for us to be able to track and trace the vaccines.
“As I told you in previous meetings, Nigeria was the first country to use Track and Trace, to monitor the movement and utilization of the vaccine. At every point in time, we know where each vaccine vial is in the country. This takes a lot of time as it entails careful packaging, serialization and follow up to the end user,” Dr Shuaib said.
He added that the agency wanted to ensure that any state they were sending the vaccine to was fully ready to receive them, citing the use of each state’s ultra-cold chain equipment to be fully functional and able to store the vaccines at the required temperatures. Also, the states must have backup storage facilities such as walk-in cold rooms, walk-in freezers or chest freezers with reliable 24-hour power supply.
“We require that the States have completed the training of health care workers who will monitor the equipment and the vaccines,” he said.
Dr Shuaib added that the agency was counting on governors to continue to provide the needed oversight and resources to ensure that the vaccines were secured and maintained in the required temperatures and that all eligible persons would be mobilized to access the vaccines to protect themselves, their families and their communities against COVID-19.
What you should know
Recall, Nairametrics reported earlier this month that Nigeria’s fight in the rising 3rd wave of COVID-19 got a boost, as the Federal Government announced the arrival of the 4,000,080 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the United States of America through the COVAX facility.
