The Nigerian Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA, revealed that 2.9% of Nigeria’s population has been fully vaccinated, representing 3,252,067 persons.
This was disclosed in a statement by Dr Faisal Shuaib ED/CEO, NPHCDA, on Monday, at the Presidential Steering Committee Briefing on Covid-19 vaccination progress in Nigeria.
He added that a total of 5,891,305 eligible persons have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, representing only 5.3 per cent of the overall eligible population.
What the NPHCDA boss said
“3,252,067 have received their second dose and are fully vaccinated, thereby representing only 2.9 per cent of the overall population of eligible persons. As we are all aware, the overall population of eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination to enable the country reach herd immunity against the disease is 111,776,503,” Dr Faisal said.
He warned that due to the figures mentioned, it is extremely risky for the nation to go into the end of year festivities without adequate measures to ensure that people are protected against the deadly virus.
“As we move towards the end of the year, it has become necessary to repeatedly emphasize the need for eligible Nigerians to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We have all come to agree that COVID-19 exists and is fatal. Some of us have lost our friends, family members and colleagues to COVID-19,” he said.
He warned that the pandemic has remained a formidable obstacle to the smooth conduct of business, education and personal living. More than any other disease in recent history, COVID-19 has generated protracted global economic downturn and social inconveniences that impact the most on developing countries including Nigeria.
He also added that the NPHCDA, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 Response has initiated the COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Campaign.
“The idea of the mass vaccination campaign is to quickly increase the number of the fully vaccinated eligible population in Nigeria thereby rapidly moving towards achieving herd immunity and creating an enabling environment for economic recovery and a return to social normalcy in the country,” he stated.
Lagos state leads with full vaccination at 626,608 people followed by the FCT at 158,156 fully vaccinated people.