BYQUADRI SALIU
Nigerian Government has Thursday received from the United States 3,577,860 doses of Pfizer vaccine through COVAX to boost the number of recipients in the country.
The United States Mission in Nigeria Thursday announced the arrival of the additional doses, adding that. the shipment arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Thus, the latest delivery of 3,577,860 doses of Pfizer vaccine to Nigeria brought the total number of vaccines donated by the US to Nigeria to over 7.5 million.
The revelation came from a statement from the US Embassy in Abuja, titled, ‘US donates more than 3.5m COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria via COVAX,’ further explained that the US had also contributed to the first multilateral donation of AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021.
It said, “Overall, COVAX has provided Nigeria with over 10 million doses to date. Safe and effective vaccines are our best tool to ending the pandemic.
“The United States has pledged to purchase and donate 1.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide, and to date has delivered more than 180 million doses to more than 100 countries.”
The US government said its continued efforts to provide vaccines to the African Union member countries helped fulfil President Joe Biden’s pledge that: “The United States is committed to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at home. We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic.”
The donations, the Mission added, were a part of the US government’s continued partnership with Nigeria in combatting COVID-19.
“To date, the US government has provided $130 million of support to Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.
“The US government is looking forward to continued coordination with Nigeria and its Centre for Disease Control to deliver life-saving doses across the country through the COVAX initiative,” the statement said.
