The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF), Sani Aliyu has revealed that Nigerians would be givenCOVID-19 vaccine free of charge when the vaccination process commences.
While speaking on Channel Television recently, Aliyu said there is a certainty that more than 40 million Nigerians will be vaccinated via the GAVI arrangement (a vaccine alliance created to ensure that any new COVID-19 vaccine would be shared equally between the world’s richest and poorest countries).
He said: “Yesterday, the president gave the PTF the mandate to proceed with preparations with regard to the vaccine.
“The president has also given us a marching order that the COVID-19 vaccine be available in Nigeria.
“Making use of the GAVI arrangement, we already have assurance that 20 percent of our population will be accommodated by GAVI in the vaccine.
“We don’t need to pay for that and this will cover 40 million Nigerians or so. But we have to pay for the operations and the logistics associated with it.”
On whether there are plans in place to procure additional vaccines besides the GAVI arrangement, Aliyu said: “We are also planning to pay for an additional 20 to 40 percent. In general, over the next two years, at least 70 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated before we can have enough herd immunity.
“The Pfizer vaccine is one of the most effective vaccines at the moment.”
Also, Aliyu said the PTF would use primary healthcare facilities that are available in the secretariats of all the 774 local governments areas of Nigeria for the distribution of the vaccine.
