US hails Nigeria's COVID-19 vaccination strategy

The United States government commended Nigeria for the successful launch and implementation of the large-scale strategy, which resulted in the administration of more than 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to people eligible in Nigeria.

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Berth Leonard, in her speech during the celebration of the achievement of a COVID-19 milestone in Nigeria, expressed confidence that Nigeria has thrown strong foundations to minimize morbidity and mortality resulting from COVID-19.

Tribune reports that as of December 14, over 65% of eligible population vaccinated in Nigeria with at least one dose and 54.3% of eligible population fully vaccinated and 70% vaccination coverage already in 12 states

The Ambassador, however, said that efforts should be intensified towards states that have yet to meet their targets in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign

"We certainly cannot forget the states that have yet to achieve these goals. As we look to the future. I commend the leadership of Dr. Faisal and his team for prioritizing the 12 states underperformers, stepping up efforts to support those states to increase vaccine uptake will be a game-changer. And I'm optimistic we'll all make progress."

She said the world has learned a lot about COVID-19 over the past three years and how best to fight misinformation, strengthen supply chains and maximize vaccination rates.

"Moving forward, I look forward to seeing how we can apply the successes and lessons learned from the scale-up strategy to strengthen Nigeria's childhood immunization program to achieve similar success" .

Leonard also revealed that as funding for COVID-19 vaccines declines, the U.S. government, through USAID and the CDC, will continue to work with national and state partners to further refine vaccines. financing strategies for immunization activities, motivating health personnel to close coverage gaps, improving data quality, preventing vaccine waste and spoilage, and improving surveillance of health threats.

"These improvements will streamline programming, achieve and enhance national and sub-national coordination and collaboration across the 36 states and the FCT to ensure that every eligible Nigerian, regardless of gender, socio-economic status or place of residence, will be achieved".

“We remain committed to working with you to ensure that we vaccinate the hardest to reach Nigerians and bring the gain seen elsewhere to the most vulnerable.” She added.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, noted that although Nigeria is not there yet, the country is very close with 65% of the eligible population vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 54% are fully vaccinated.

What interests me most about all this data is the fact that over 60 million people are fully vaccinated while over 72 million people have received at least one dose.

Mustapha, who was represented by the Minister of State for Health, Joseph Ekumankama, therefore said that the effect of vaccination is the fact that deaths from COVID-19 have decreased significantly in Nigeria and that is the remarkable achievement that has given the federal government the confidence to ease restrictions related to COVID-19.

He however advised the elderly, immunocompromised and people with co-morbidities to use face masks, wash their hands with clean water and soap, use hand sanitizers and d avoid large gatherings.

“For travel, all pre-departure and post-arrival PCR testing requirements for all persons who are not fully vaccinated have been suspended.”

"With the suspension of PCR testing before boarding and after arrival, passengers will no longer be required to upload proof of vaccination to the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP).

“However, a simplified health declaration (not specific to covid-19) must be completed by all passengers arriving in Nigeria on the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP); while arrangements will be made at arrival for those who could not complete this form before departure”.

“I call on Nigerians and all residents of Nigeria to ensure that they take their COVID-19 vaccines as well as booster doses.” He added.

Earlier, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib highlighted that the achievements were made through the commitment of leaders at sub-national and community levels

“We have made gains thanks to our traditional leaders, religious leaders, community associations and non-governmental organizations who have been mobilized to focus on how we can overcome this pandemic,” he added.

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