*President Muhammadu Buhari has tasked the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to coordinate the process for planning and strategy for the delivery and administration of the Coronavirus vaccines, using the existing health structures: Dr. Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

As the global community intensifies efforts at getting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to immunise populations against the disruptive pandemic, the Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the first batch of the vaccines will get to the country by the end of January 2021.

Dr. Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, who disclosed this Sunday on Arise News stated that there is a presidential directive to ensure that the vaccines are sourced as timely as possible.

The PTF National Coordinator noted: 鈥淚n terms of when it is going to be available in the country, there is a lot of work going on with National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the President directed the Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19 last two weeks to get involved in the nitty-gritty of the efforts to ensure that the vaccines come in a timely manner.

鈥淲e expect the first batch of vaccines to come in possibly towards the end of January.

Aliyu also stated that 鈥渢he control of the pandemic will rely not only on full compliance with the non-pharmaceutical interventions but also the availability and acceptance of vaccination programmes.

鈥淲e cannot allow ourselves to become a pariah nation, we don鈥檛 really have a choice when it comes to vaccines, we have to vaccinate our public especially those that are vulnerable the elderly, those that are most likely to have severe illness and we will definitely not be left behind as a country.鈥�

Nigeria cannot afford to be a pariah nation in the race to obtain vaccines, said he.

According to him, much work is ongoing with the National Primary Healthcare Development agency and the Global Vaccine Alliance Initiative (GAVI) with whom the Federal Government has signed an agreement for access to the vaccines.

Earlier, President Muhammadu Buhari, during the presentation of the end of the year report by PTF, had tasked the body to coordinate the process for planning and strategy for the delivery and administration of the vaccines using the existing health structures that have worked in the past in vaccine administration.

Report says a committee has already been set up by the government to select the vaccine most appropriate for the country from the existing vaccines against the virus considering that different temperatures are required to protect vaccines.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government is targeting to vaccinate 20 percent of the country over 200 million population in the first instance against the virus.

The virus has killed about 1,400 Nigerians and infected about 89,163 persons since the pandemic first hit the country February 27, 2020.