The arrival of Covid-19 Vaccine in Abuja has stirred reactions and concerns from Nigerians, particularly social media users.
Earlier, 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and shipped via the COVAX facility, arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, yesterday.
While some Nigerians celebrated the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines, describing it as a great step to curb the virus, others expressed concern about the distribution and storage process.
Some pleaded with the government to ensure the vaccine is not hoarded like palliatives and distributed to those at the grassroots level.
They also demanded that the government sensitize the public in order to convince Nigerians to take the vaccine.
Here are some comments from Twitter: @Mechninja1 “A good and welcome development. I hope there are plans to ensure Nigerians get vaccines to about 80% of the population before the end of the year?
@Abdulgarbadu1 “Nigerians don’t need vaccines; we only need security and low cost of living!
@Isuzu2017 “I hope we have the right faculty to store/preserve the vaccines? They should not inject people with contaminated vaccines oh.”
@ab_seyi “Yes, time for senators, house of rep members and others to take and hoard the vaccine, if they could hoard indomie. It’s enough to get the vaccine to Nigeria, but what is the plan to roll the vaccine out? Are the most vulnerable going to be targeted or the wealthiest?
@Obiee_o “The bigger problem here will be convincing the Nigerian populace to take it. Over 70% of the population will rather die than take the vaccine.”
@therealdaddymo1 “Let’s hope this rollout is managed properly! Let’s hope the Naija factor doesn’t play a role. Hope any howness doesn’t feature. It’s literally a matter of life and death.”
@Abioye_seezy “Great news that awakens the soul.”
@Omolaraoriye “I just want to beg our politicians and government officials don’t treat this like you did the palliatives! You do not need more than 1 dose; you cannot save it for your children neither can you save vaccines for your birthday celebration. Just saying.”
@Fawkes_dr “I trust the powers that be and the makers and shakers of society to share this amongst themselves and hoard them again like the palliatives of last year. Prove me wrong.”
@Drmuzoic “Can the politicians disappoint Nigerians for once and allow this vaccine get to the masses seamlessly?
@Trailblazer2004 “Please o, as this thing dey arrive, make una share am kiakia before Boko Haram go come kidnap am. COVID-19 vaccines na life ooh.” [sic].
@Codshalom1 “I just hope this will not end up like the Palliatives that ended up stored in politicians’ warehouses even some used/rebranded it as party gift items. This Covid-19 Vaccine is for everyone… If all the Politicians receive their shots, it will still go far!
@bylinks “Great news and a very landmark achievement for COVID19 response activities.”
@Collinspius “I hope our politicians would not start hoarding the vaccines?”
@techlinenigga “Our leaders should line up and get the vaccine first. Maybe everything will work very well.”
Earlier, an Emirate plane — Boeing 777300ER, carrying 3.92 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine arrives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, at 11.36 a.m. yesterday.
The vaccine shipment is from COVAX, a global scheme to procure and distribute inoculations for free, as the world races to contain the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Boeing 777300ER Emirate aircraft has a cooling system.
Nigeria is the third country to receive the vaccine in Africa after Ghana and Cote d’ivoire from the COVAX facility, launched in April 2020 to ensure fairer distribution of the Coronavirus vaccine between rich and poor nations.
A total of two billion doses are expected to be delivered to COVAX member nations by the end of 2021 and the 3.92 million doses are Nigeria’s first shipment from the 16 million doses initially expected in the country.
The 3.92 million doses of vaccine was licenced by the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India as part of an initial tranche of deliveries headed to several low and middle-income countries which Nigeria is part of.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, said “we have been informed that four million out of the 16 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines would arrive in the first batch of supplies to the country.”
Shuaib said the agency established a national Covid-19 operations room to track planned activities at all levels and report on state of preparedness, using a dash board to also identify and address gaps promptly.
According to him, an additional 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by telecom giant, MTN, will also be delivered to the country.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, assured that “Nigeria shall receive the initial four million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines and Nigerians will be adequately informed on developments.