10th March, 2021
By Abankula with agency reports
Three Nigerian states of Kwara, Borno and Plateau announced that they had received their share of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
About four million doses of the vaccine were received in Abuja last week.
Kwara Government said its consignment arrived in Ilorin International Airport at about 8.30p.m on Tuesday.
The vaccine was received by a team led by the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Health, Dr Abubakar Ayinla.
Addressing newsmen shortly after taking delivery of the vaccines, the Executive Secretary, State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Nusirat Elelu, said the state was excited to witness the delivery of the vaccines to support its fight against coronavirus.
“We are certainly very excited to receive these vaccines and I wish to note that this is a historic day not just for Kwara residents but for the whole country.
“This signifies that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“The first phase will target the front liners, health workers, people that work at the point of entries, members of the military and some of our strategic leaders.
“The reason we are also prioritising our strategic leaders is for them to serve as an example to show the world that the vaccine is safe, effective and efficient,” Elelu said.
While Kwara did not indicate the quantity of vaccine doses received, Plateau said it got 105, 600.
The state Health Commissioner, Dr Lar Ndam, confirmed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Pankshin.
“We have just received delivery of 105, 600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the Federal Government through the Yakubu Gowon Airport.
“The plane brought the vaccines about an hour ago and we have safely kept them in our cold rooms.
“Our next step will be immediate onward distribution to our Cold Chains around the 17 local government areas.
“Once we do that, we shall commence the vaccination exercise without further delay to safe our people from the ravaging virus,” he said.
Borno Government also acknowledged receiving 75,510 doses of the vaccine.
The Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, confirmed this at a news conference on Tuesday at the Maiduguri Airport.
Kadafur, who is also the Chairman of the state Taskforce on COVID-19, said the taskforce would meet to decide when to commence the vaccination.
He said “when plan for vaccination is ready, we will unveil it to you.”
Kadafur and other members of the taskforce were at the airport to receive the vaccine, which arrived around 9 p.m.
Lagos early on Tuesday said its share of the vaccine had also arrived.