COVID-19: Nigeria Far From Achieving 70% Vaccination Target – Federal Govt

The federal government has expressed concern over Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccination statistics, saying the country was far from achieving the target of vaccinating 70 per cent of its eligible population.

Executive director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, who stated this on Monday at a ministerial press briefing in Abuja, said 21,236,404 eligible Nigerians were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

He said this figure (21,236,404) represents 19.05 per cent of the 111,776,503 eligible population targeted for the entire vaccination cycle.

Represented by Dr. Abdullahi Garba, Shuaib stressed the need for more aggressive actions to fast-track the process towards achieving herd immunity.

He said: “As at June 19, of the 111,776,503 eligible Nigerian residents targeted for the entire vaccination cycle, a total of 21,236,404 people were fully vaccinated with different mix of COVID-19 vaccines, while 28,426,564 people were partially vaccinated indicating 19.05 and 25.4 per cent respectively.”

He, however, said that the Agency was adopting strategies to achieve its objective, including the concept of service integration, where COVID-19 vaccines are given along with other high-impact health interventions like routine immunsation.

The director-general of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, while giving updates on Monkeypox infection in the country, said as of June 19th, the country had recorded 41 confirmed cases and one death.