By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Nigeria, still awaiting the deliveries of AstraZeneca shots, is targeting to receive not less than 70 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine this year through the African Union (AU).
In a separate development, Johnson & Johnson on Monday said that it would supply the AU with up to 400 million doses of its single-dose vaccine beginning in the third quarter.
Faisal Shuaib, who heads Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, told Reuters that Nigeria expects to initially receive 30 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in July through the AU.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get up to 70 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson this year. This is yet to be finalised but these are some of the advanced conversations that are going on between Nigeria and the African Union,” he said in Abuja.
Nigeria previously said that it had applied for 41 million doses of vaccines through the AU, comprising of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots. But Shuaib said that the proportion of AstraZenca doses was likely to be reduced by the delays.
“Some of the allocations that we were supposed to get for the AstraZeneca will be replaced by the Johnson and Johnson,” he said, adding that this was yet to be finalised.
Rolling out vaccines in developing nations such as Nigeria, whose 200 million-strong population is Africa’s biggest, is seen as key to stemming the global spread of the new coronavirus.
Nigeria, which has recorded 2,049 deaths from COVID-19 and began vaccinations last month, plans to inoculate 40% of its people this year and another 30% in 2022.
Last week, India – the world’s biggest vaccine maker – said it would prioritise domestic inoculations, prompting fears of delays in the export of AstraZeneca doses under the World Health Organization (WHO)-backed COVAX scheme to supply vaccines to poorer countries.
Germany has from Wednesday restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to those aged 60 and above as it investigates a small number of reports of rare blood clotting in people who got the vaccine. And Canada on Monday said that it would not offer the shots to people under 55.
Global regulators have said that the shot was safe and effective.
Shuaib said there was no evidence of adverse side effects in Nigeria and the AstraZeneca vaccine would continue to be used for eligible people aged 18 and above.
Nigeria’s finance minister, according to Reuters, said the country will draw up a supplementary budget to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, for which no provision was made in the 2021 finance bill adopted in December.
