UPDATE 2-Nigeria expects first 4 million coronavirus vaccine doses from COVAX next week -WHO

* Africa's most populous country has had fewer than 1,900
deaths
* Nigeria will not seek bilateral deals, says disease centre
chief

(Adds officials' quotes, vaccine details)
By Michael Shields and Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria is expecting its first 4
million doses of coronavirus vaccines next week from the global
COVAX programme for poor and middle-income countries, the World
Health Organization said on Friday.
Walter Kazadi Mulombo, head of WHO's mission in Nigeria,
told a briefing by video link that Nigeria was expecting 14
million doses in total.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC), said the situation in Nigeria was so far
much better than had been widely predicted early in the
pandemic.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with some 200
million people, has reported fewer than 1,900 COVID-19 deaths so
far.
"The whole world expected the continent of Africa, and
Nigeria with our social and economic realities, to basically
fall apart," Ihekweazu told the briefing.
He also referred to the findings of seroprevalence studies,
published on Monday, which suggested that 23% of Lagos state
inhabitants - around 4 million people - may have had COVID-19 in
October.
He said studies in four Nigerian states had shown that
serious illness appeared to be rarer than feared, possibly in
part because of the young average age of the population.
"Getting the vaccine into Nigeria will serve the continent
well, will serve the world well," he said.
Nigeria plans to inoculate 40% of the population this year
and 30% more in 2022.
Ihekweazu said authorities recognised the need for equity in
access to vaccines and was committed to pursuing multilateral
deals.
"We will not look for bilateral deals," Ihekweazu said.
"We will work in a multilateral way with WHO, with COVAX
with the African Union (AU) to make sure that as we get vaccines
into Nigeria, the same happens ... across the continent," he
said.

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