The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that it will today commence the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

A statement issued by Yanda Muhammad for the Head of Public Relations Unit of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) yesterday, explained that the national flag-off exercise is scheduled to hold at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja.

The commencement of the second phase of the vaccination exercise was earlier shifted from last Tuesday to today, due to what the agency said had to do with issues of relabelling of the vaccine doses for easy tracking by the regulatory agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, had said the four million doses of Modena vaccine donated by the United States government and the 177,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine received in the country last Thursday, through the African Union and Afreximbank deal would be rolled out during the second phase of vaccination.

Shuaib said:

While we appreciate your understanding and the patience of the Nigerian public, it is important to mention that the delay witnessed in the rollout of the vaccine is as a result of our continued commitment to work with our partners and other agencies to ensure that when we roll out the vaccines they are as successful as what we witnessed during the 1st phase of the vaccination rollout.

We are currently wrapping up the training about 40,739 health workers across the National, State and Ward level on our phase 2 strategic vaccine roll out plan with focus on improving the delivery, communication, data management, management of the vaccines and logistics that are needed.

A total of 3363 teams will be used. 2690 teams manning the fixed post and 673 manning temporary fixed post which will go from settlement to settlement especially around areas where people will congregate for example the houses of the traditional leaders, the markets and motor parks.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.