August 16 has been scheduled as the new date when the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination will commence in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed during an interview on the Nigerian Television Authority’s (NTA) “Good Morning Nigeria’’ programme, said the Moderna vaccines that were donated by the United States would be administered.
While debunking claims that the vaccination exercise was postponed from August 10 to August 16 because of the concern raised by some experts on the danger of using Moderna vaccines, the Honourable Minister said the postponement was “purely administrative’’.
He 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 August 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.”
