By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, March 5 (Reuters) - A doctor who has spent the past
year treating COVID-19 patients on Friday became the first
person in Nigeria to be vaccinated against the disease, kicking
off a mammoth campaign that aims to inoculate 80 million people
this year.
Vaccinating all of Nigeria's 200 million people and those in
other developing countries is seen as key to stemming the global
spread of the coronavirus.
"I am happy to be the first and I am happy I am not the
last," the doctor, 42-year-old Ngong Cyprian, told Reuters. "I
want everybody to be vaccinated."
Two other male doctors and one female nurse were also
inoculated in white tents draped in green, the colours of the
national flag, while cameras rolled and officials clapped and
cheered.
Nigeria, with 157,671 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,951
deaths, has not been as hard hit by the pandemic as initially
feared, but is aiming to vaccinate 40% of its people this year,
and a further 30% in 2022.
It took delivery of 3.92 million doses of the
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday through the COVAX scheme.
Nigeria expects to receive 84 million doses of the vaccine from
COVAX this year.
The scheme for poor and middle-income countries is co-led by
Gavi, the vaccine alliance, and the World Health Organization,
with UNICEF as an implementing partner.
'LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL'
Nigeria also expects at least 40 million doses from the
African Union and 100,000 donated doses of India's Covishield
vaccine. President Muhammadu Buhari and other "strategic leaders"
will be vaccinated on Saturday in an effort to increase public
confidence in the shots.
Nigeria's 36 states, including Lagos, the commercial capital
and epicentre of the pandemic in the country, will receive shots
in coming weeks. Seroprevalence studies suggest 23% of Lagos
state inhabitants may have had COVID-19 in October. healthcare workers and employees in key sectors,
including oil and gas, will be among those getting the first
shots, followed by adults with pre-existing conditions. All
those over 18, excluding pregnant women, can then be vaccinated.
"Vaccines provide light at the end of the tunnel but we must
get to the end of the tunnel," said Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director
General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, adding that
surveillance, testing and treatment would continue.