By Nanji Nandang
As countries world over step up their vaccination process to ensure majority or all of their citizens are fully vaccinated towards reducing COVID- 19 cases to the barest minimum, Nigeria has also been making efforts to mitigate the impact of the virus in the country.
Though vaccines are available following donations from different countries and organizations, vaccine response still remain low.
The country has an ambitious goal of vaccinating at least 40 percent of its over 200 million populations by the end of this year, and 70 percent by the end of 2022.
Statistics show that as at September, 19 2021, over 4.4 million people have received at least 1 dose of the vaccine, that is barely 2.2 % of the population while over 1.7 million people have been fully vaccinated, which stands at 0.9 percent of the population.
Donations
Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, donated by United Kingdom, developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca on 2 March 2021, It was the first shipment for the over 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility, aimed at vaccinating 20% of the population, and vaccinations began three days later on 5 March.
As the country steps up efforts to battle a third wave of infections, on August 2, 2021 Nigeria received the second batch of vaccines from the United States government who also donated Four million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to Nigeria delivered through the COVAX facility.
This followed a pledge by the US President, Joe Biden, in May 2021 to share 80 million vaccines with countries around the world to protect the most vulnerable. Of these 80 million, Africa is expected to receive 25 million.
Barely a week later, the Nigerian Government still received 177,600 doses, part of the 29,850,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines on 8 August, 2021, through the African Vaccine Acquisition Team of the African Union Commission, donated by the United States government. The vaccine was delivered through the facility provided by African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK), the balance will subsequently be delivered in monthly tranches.
On August 17, 2021, the Federal government received additional 698,880 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the second shipment from the United Kingdom.
The vaccines in Nigeria
With the vaccine donations from different quotas, different brands have been introduced and this have left a number of people indecisive as to which vaccine is safer. Information reveals all the vaccines are efficacious but they differ in terms of administration and storage requirements.
Sinopharm Vaccine
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) on 24 August, 2021 said NAFDAC had approved the Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV COVID-19 vaccine, which has also received WHO certification.
The Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said the vaccine was developed by Sinopharm’s Beijing Institute of Biological Products, “sometimes written as Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products”, noting that there are sometimes two different acronyms, BBIBP and BIBP, for the same vaccine.
“It completed phase three trials in Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru and United Arab Emirates (UAE), with over 60,000 participants. BBIBP-CorV shares similar technology with CoronaVac and Covaxin, other inactivated virus vaccines for COVID-19″ he said.
“Its product name is SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine ‘Vero Cell’, not to be confused with the similar product name of CoronaVac,” he added.
AstraZeneca Vaccine
AstraZeneca is administered through intramuscular injection about 28 days apart.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is given in double doses. A person is required to take a second shot, about 4 weeks after taking the first jab.
Moderna vaccine
Moderna is an mRNA vaccine, using the same technology as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with similarly high efficacy at preventing symptomatic disease.
The Moderna vaccine can be shipped and kept in long-term storage in standard freezer temperatures, and stored for up to 30 days using normal refrigeration, making it easier to distribute and store. Also, the Moderna vaccine was slightly less effective in clinical trials in about 86% in people who are 65 and older.
Just like the AstraZeneca vaccine, it is given in double doses. A person is required to take the second shot, some weeks after taking the first jab
The Johnson & Johnson vaccines
It is the first single-shot vaccine in the fight against the global pandemic. It was authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use. It was developed by Janssen Pharmaceutical Compamanies of Johnson and Johnson to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years and above.
Vaccination so far
With the availability of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Nigeria, Dr Shuaib said that the batch received will be focused on those who are in the hard-to-reach areas (riverine areas, desert areas and security-compromised areas), the elderly and frail individuals. This is because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is administered as a single dose vaccine unlike the AstraZeneca and Moderna that require two doses for complete vaccination.
Shuaib said the second phase of vaccination would capture older adults aged 50 years and above and those with comorbidities aged between 18 and 49 years of age.
Having so far fully vaccinated only about 0.9 per cent of its over 200 million populations, Nigeria no doubt has a lot to do in terms of availability of vaccines and creating awareness on the vaccines available for it to achieve its target of vaccinating 40 percent of the population by the end of 2021, barely 3 months from now.
Sekyen Dadik contributed to this story.