COVID-19: Nigeria could not meet 70% vaccination target

COVID-19: Nigeria could not meet 70% vaccination target

Despite efforts by the Nigeran government to vaccinate 70 per cent of the country’s eligible population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022, there is still a 14.7 percent gap as only 55.3 percent have been fully vaccinated.

The executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at a press briefing Monday in Abuja, saying 64,094,498 eligible population, representing 55.3 percent have been fully vaccinated.

The ED, who was represented by the agency’s director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr Abdullahi Bulama, said, “At the start of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise, we targeted to vaccinate 70 percent of our eligible population by December 2022. As of today, Monday January 9th 2023, 76,161,470 eligible persons have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria, representing 65.7 percent of our eligible population. 64,094,498 persons have been fully vaccinated and this represents 55.3 percent of our eligible population. 9,892,018 have received their booster doses.”

He also said that the number of eligible population in the country has increased from 111,773,503 to 115,983,921 as a result of an increase in the number of persons who turned 18 years.

He said the increase in the number of cases seen globally was as a result of the mutation that is occurring and the low intake of booster doses while calling on all Nigerians to ensure that they take their booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines.

“Just like the flu vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccines have become routine vaccines that help protect us against this deadly virus.”