Over 4,000 Nigerians receive second AstraZeneca jab

About 4,683 Nigerian citizens have received their second dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, the government says.

JOHANNESBURG, May 26 (ANA) – The government of Nigeria has revealed that about 4,683 citizens in the West African country have received their second dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

According to an article by the Daily Post, the executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, told this to reporters in Abuja on Tuesday.

The newspaper reported on Wednesday that Shuaib said no fewer than 1,929,237 Nigerians had received their first dose since the vaccination exercise commenced in March.

“We’ve now provided the first Covid-19 vaccine doses to a total number of 1,929,237 Nigerians, representing 96% of the targeted population,” he said.

He added that only those who had received their first dose six to 12 weeks prior would be eligible for the second jab.

On May 22, TRT World reported that the Indian variant of Covid-19 had been recorded in Nigeria, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were fears that Nigeria could become the next Covid-19 hot spot.

According to TRT World, another worry was that across Nigeria, hospitals were overcrowded with patients suffering from diseases such as malaria and HIV/Aids, while the conditions and infrastructure were in a terrible state.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 39 fresh cases of Covid-19 in Lagos, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

This brings the latest number of cases to 166,098. Nigeria has also recorded 156,528 recoveries and 2,071 deaths related to Covid-19.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher