Nigeria on Friday received 501,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the French government.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, who received the vaccines at the National Strategic Cold Store in Abuja, said Nigeria was among the African countries to receive vaccines from the French government.
He added that the vaccine was brought to Nigeria through the COVAX facility.
Shuaib said the donation of over 500, 000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Nigeria was a demonstration of France’s confidence in Nigeria’s capacity to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NPHCDA chief said Nigeria’s vaccine storage facilities have remained efficient and well maintained, adding that no standards are compromised in logistics requirements for effective management and utilisation of all COVID-19 vaccines available in the country.
According to him, the Federal Government had put in place the necessary measures to ensure monitoring and accountability of the vaccines.
He said: “We track utilisation of all COVID-19 vaccines in all states of the federation and receive a daily reports from our senior supervisors and state immunisation officers, who are on the field to monitor the management and administration of the vaccines.”
In his remarks, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Jerome Pasquier, commended the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 in the efforts at addressing the pandemic through procurement of vaccines for the country.
