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COVID-19 vaccines have not shown any signs of side-effects – NGF
The Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum on Wednesday met and deliberated on issues affecting the country, particularly on the roll out of the Covid19 vaccines and the attendant issues that have arisen since the roll out.
Chairman of the forum and governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Fayemi, congratulated his colleagues for accepting to be vaccinated and declared that so far the vaccines have not shown any signs of side-effects as is widely rumored.
Speaking further, the chairman also briefed his colleagues on the visit of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of States’ Universities, the activities of the Governors Spouses around Gender-Based Violence and the VAP Act calling on his colleagues to step up to the plate in support of the activities of the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum nationwide and the progress made with the States’ Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) project.
Meanwhile, after the briefing by the Chairman, the NGF received a presentation from the British Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) in Lagos, Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, on the Accelerated C-19 Economic Support (ACES) programme which is aimed at supporting Nigeria’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. The current focus of the ACES programme in Nigeria is trade facilitation through e-customs and digital jobs booster to activate the digital economy and accelerate the creation of local tech jobs in the country.
Furthermore, following the presentation, the Forum committed to supporting a federal government-led cross-agency trade facilitation as a critical objective of the e-customs programme coordinated through the National Trade Facilitation Roadmap. Nigeria will be able to achieve the objectives of the e-customs programme (i.e., enhanced user experience, and approximately 10% growth in customs revenue to hit the US$176 billion revenue target) with a broader cross-agency scope of reform including fulfilling its Word Trade Organisation (WTO) trade facilitation agreement.
Also, the forum also pledge commitment to encouraging digital infrastructure expansion, accelerator programmes and investment promotion to facilitate job creation in highly potential digital areas such as IT and business processing outsourcing, digital media, e-commerce, start-up innovation and smart manufacturing based
on the comparative advantage of each State. In the light of this, State governments are encouraged to set up one-stop shops to accelerate approvals and harmonize fees for priority broadband infrastructure across the country.
Furthermore, the NGF Secretariat will partner with the British High Commission, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as well as partners at the federal level on the workability of the ACES programme and the role of State governments to maximize its opportunities.
The Forum’s COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group (CTAG) led by Professor Oyewale Tomori briefed members on the status of the COVID-19 vaccine roll out across the States including the increasing concerns of the public on the safety of Asta Zeneca vaccines. CTAG recommended that Nigeria should continue to vaccinate all eligible persons with the AstraZeneca vaccine in line with the latest WHO recommendations as available evidence, including findings from research in which some CTAG members
are involved showing that the Astra Zeneca vaccine is safe.
The governors reiterated their belief in the safety of the Astra Zeneca vaccines and commit to continuously encourage uptake of the vaccines by all eligible persons in their States, Governors also encourage the public to report any adverse events noticed following COVID-19 vaccination.
Following a briefing from the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA), Buba Marwa on Managing the Drug Crisis in the country, state governors expressed commitment to supporting the logistics and operational activities of NDLEA officials in their States, as well as programmes that will promote drug use prevention in the country.
The forum also received a presentation on the 2018 audited accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform (FOSTER) led by its team lead, Mr Henry Adigun. The Forum welcomed the fiduciary risk assessment of the corporation. The additional information will support the work of State governments in engaging with the federal government to improve the governance arrangement of the oil industry.
March 18, 2021
Borno Top Brass Take Covid-19 vaccines in Maiduguri

From DAUDA R PAM-MAIDUGURI
The Deputy Governor of Borno,Hon. Umar Kadafur, alongside other top government officials, Friday, took the Oxford Astra Zeneca,COVID-19 Vaccine with an appeal citizens to avail themselves for the exercise.
The Borno State Deputy Governor,who is also the chairman Taskforce on COVID-19, in an interface with the media shortly after being administered with the vaccines in his office,further hinted that BORNO state had been assigned a total of 75,510 doses of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccines.

“I call on all citizens to avail themselves for the vaccination , prevention is better than cure”.
“And that even after receiving the vaccines they should still observed social distancing and other COVID-19 protocols as researchers are still working on the vaccine,with the hope of getting to the promised land”, he enthused.

According to him,”taking vaccine is not a new thing, though COVID-19 had a lot of controversies on its potency.
Nigeria has been devastated by the COVID-19 since we witnessed the first case exactly one year in March last year. You can see I just took the vaccine and for now, I am not feeling anything, people should come and take it”.

” Yesterday we launched the vaccination with the front line health workers, today, for the VIP and top government officials, we are going to rollout to the local government areas and subsequently to the ward levels. The most important thing is as a chairman of COVID-19 Taskforce committee, I have taken my own”, Kadafur stated.

Also, the Chief of Staff to the Borno State Governor, Hon. Isa Husseini Marte, said the more people take the vaccination, the more protected the society. So, I am highly recommending that people should get immunized”.
March 14, 2021
BOSG Receives 75,510 Doses Of Covid-19 Vaccines
By Dauda R Pam Maiduguri
The Deputy GOVERNOR of Borno state who also doubles as Chairman Task Force on COVID-19,Alh.Umar Kadafur, has confirmed receipt of 75,510 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the state.
Alhaji Umar Kadafur, confirmed the arrival of the vaccines to newsmen in an interview at the Maiduguri International Airport shortly after the arrival of the vaccines.
According to him, the committee will soon meet to decide when to commence the vaccination exercise, “when the plan (for vaccination) is ready we are going to unveil it to you,”.
The COVID-19 vaccines were received by the deputy Governor amidst other members of the taskforce at the Maiduguri International Airport at about 9:00 PM, Tuesday.
March 11, 2021
Ekiti receives COVID-19 vaccines
Ekiti State government has announced that it has received does of COVID-19 vaccines.
A statement issued on the official Twitter handle of the state government revealed that Governor Kayode Fayemi and his deputy, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi,
The statement said, “Ekiti State receives doses of #COVID19 vaccines. Governor Fayemi @kfayemi and his deputy would be leading the rest of the state as they receive their vaccination publicly on Wednesday, March 10th.
“Risk Communications officials are also being trained to tackle misinformation across the 16 LGAs of the state ahead of the rollout of the vaccines in Ekiti.
“Ekiti continues to lead as a model sub-national government with integrated and holistic responses to tackle COVID-19 and cushion its economic impact on the people.”
SEE PHOTOS;

March 10, 2021
States yet to meet conditions won’t get COVID-19 vaccines – FG
The Federal Government has said states who have not met the criteria for vaccine safety won’t get share of the about four million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at a State House briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
He also said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari; and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, will receive shots of the vaccines on Saturday to dissipate vaccine hesitancy amongst Nigerians.
Shuaib said, “After we are able to get our strategic leaders to publicly demonstrate that these vaccines are safe, the plan is to now go to the state level to start the launch at the treatment centres of the states and also get strategic leaders such as governors to publicly take the vaccines.
“By the time all of these happen, we will have finished all of the necessary preparations, we will have created a dashboard that will track very carefully the status of the preparedness of the states.
“We will not be sending vaccines to the states that have not fulfilled all of the criteria that will ensure that if the vaccines get to the states, they are going to be safe.
“For example, we have communicated to the states that they have to wrap up their security around their cold stores because these are very valuable vaccines and we do not want a situation where vaccines are taken to the states and criminal elements take advantage to vandalise these cold stores.
“We are also aware that during the #EndSARS vandalisation, there were some cold stores that actually suffered. I know that the state governors are trying to fix those but we have to verify that those are ready to receive our vaccines.
“We are working with the sub-national level; we are in conversation with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to see how Nigerians can rapidly get their vaccines. It is very critical that we roll out rapidly so that we can cut into any kind of mutation that can lead to the development of resistance against our vaccines.”
The NPHCDA boss also enjoined Nigerians who wish to receive the vaccines to register on the website of the agency.

March 4, 2021
COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday – Boss Mustapha
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, has confirmed that Nigeria will on Tuesday, March 2, receive the first tranche of COVID-19 vaccines.
Mustapha, who is also the chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, made the disclosure on Saturday in Abuja while evaluating the country’s fight against the disease.
“They (vaccines) should depart India on March 1, 2021 in the night and arrive in Abuja on the 2nd of March, 2021, ” he said.
Our correspondents reports that Nigeria is set to receive its first four million shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX, a global scheme set up to procure and distribute vaccines for free, as the world races to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
COVAX, which was set up in April 2020 to help ensure a fairer distribution of coronavirus vaccines between the rich and poor nations, said it would deliver two billion doses to member-states by the end of 2021.
Nigeria’s four million vaccines would be its first COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility.
The facility promised access to vaccines for up to 20 per cent of participating countries’ population with an initial supply beginning in the first quarter of 2021 to inoculate three per cent of their populations.
The Nigerian government had earlier announced that the first four million doses of the vaccines would arrive in the country by the end of February.
The SGF disclosed that the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) would be organising the shipment from Mumbai, India, with the World Health Organisation (WHO), both backers of COVAX.
Meanwhile, the PTF chairman praised Nigeria’s health workers and the various frontline workers for working hard to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Mustapha, while evaluating the county’s response to COVID-19 in the past year, said the PTF had performed “very well’’ with a very robust national response.
“We have succeeded in discharging our mandate of managing the pandemic with a well-defined process and a robust national response,” he noted.
The SGF said that the strategies evolved by his committee to manage the pandemic had been replicated in some other countries, especially the compulsory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for travellers.
He explained that the pandemic had helped the country to scale up its health infrastructure, citing the increase in the number of infectious diseases testing laboratories from four to 132 across the country.
NAN recalls that the Nigeria’s health minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, on Wednesday admitted that the country may have to wait till March to receive its first doses of the vaccines.
Ghana received 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines on Wednesday, making it the first country on the continent to benefit from the COVAX programme.
Cote d`Ivoire, a country with more than 32,000 COVID-19 cases and 188 deaths, also received over 500,000 doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.
It is exactly one year ago, Feb. 27, 2020, that Nigeria detected its first case of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), believed to be the first reported case in Sub-Saharan Africa.
With more than 150,000 cases reported since then, the NCDC said Nigeria’s response had been led by science and driven by the power of coordination, collaboration and solidarity among federal and state governments, partners, the private sector and the citizens.
February 28, 2021
Ghana receives First COVID-19 Vaccine Shipment through Global Sharing Program
Ghana has become the first country to receive the shipment of COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global vaccine-sharing program.
The 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccines arrived Wednesday in the capital, Accra.
This is according to a joint statement from WHO and UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. The vaccines were manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.
The statement added that the vaccines sent to Ghana were purchased through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, an initiative launched by WHO in cooperation with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.
The project purchases vaccines with the help of wealthier countries and distributes them equitably to all countries. U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $4 billion to the COVAX program last week.
Recall that the WHO had in December announced that COVAX has secured agreements for nearly two billion doses of several “promising” vaccine candidates.
The supply of vaccines is expected to grow after the U.S. determined that a one-shot COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is apparently safe and protects against the disease.
February 25, 2021
WHO Denies Disqualifying Nigeria Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
• Nigeria Misses First Phase Of Pfizer Vaccine
• Expects 16m Doses Of Astrazeneca Vaccine By February — NPHCDA Boss
The World Health Organisation, (WHO), yesterday said it has not disqualified Nigeria or any African country from accessing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility. Rather, it is supporting all countries to access vaccines as quickly as possible.
However, Nigeria has missed out on the first phase of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, as the 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine expected to arrive the country this month has been replaced with 16 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccine.
The global health body, through its Director, African Region, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said on Thursday that about 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries of Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia, with deliveries expected later in February.
She noted that to access an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine, countries were invited to submit proposals. Thirteen African countries expressed interest in the initiative. Their proposals were evaluated, based on current mortality rates, new cases and trends and capacities to deliver the vaccine, including storing it at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Nigeria, which is expecting about 100,000 doses of the vaccine this month, was not included in the allocation. Briefing journalists on the purported disqualification of Nigeria from accessing COVID-19 vaccines, yesterday, in Abuja, WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said the demand for the initial allocation of 1.2 million doses was exceptionally high. She explained that COVAX received interest from 72 countries, out of which 51 countries, including Nigeria, were considered ready by the review committee. Eighteen countries were finally chosen to receive the initial doses.
Mulombo said in Africa continent, as of January 18 deadline, COVAX received 13 submissions and a multi-agency committee evaluated the proposals, out of which nine were recommended as ready to deploy the Pfizer vaccine, including Nigeria. Unfortunately, however, it was not feasible to provide each of these 51 countries with Pfizer doses, due to a number of factors, including the limited capacity for Pfizer to handle many countries at once.
He said: “Spreading the limited doses across all the 51 countries deemed ‘ready’ could have not achieve the intended public health benefit. After epidemiological data was taken into account, the decision was taken to proportionally balance the number of self-financing and AMC participants, as well as participants across all six WHO regions.”
Molumbo observed that currently, all countries on the continent are expected to start accessing the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines by the end of February, adding that out of the 88 million AstraZeneca doses allocated to African countries for the first phase, Nigeria has received by far the largest allocation, with 16 million doses.
“In addition to the AstraZeneca doses, there is an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine available through COVAX. The vaccine is under review by WHO for Emergency Use Listing and the outcome is expected soon,” he added.
The Executive Director, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib observed that a number of factors were considered in allocating the small quantity of the 320,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine to COVAX countries, which include the mortality rates from COVID-19, the number of new cases, the trend in the number of cases, the population and the availability of the appropriate Cold Chain equipment.
He said, “countries such as South Africa which received the Pfizer allocation have the new strain of the COVID-19 virus, has the highest mortality rates and is struggling to contain transmission. Furthermore, giving smaller countries such as Cape Verde and Rwanda few doses of the Pfizer vaccine would have a larger public health impact considering their population. 100,000 doses to Nigeria, we have all agreed would have been a drop in the ocean, so, it is a welcome development that we are receiving 16 million doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine to replace the Pfizer vaccine in February. The ultra cold chain equipment would have been able to store about 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The 16 million doses will invariably help us reach more people and is suited to our existing cold chain system.”
When asked about specific reasons Nigeria in particular was not included in the allocation for Pfizer vaccine, Shuaib said, “we were not part of the selection process; what they gave us was the criteria, South Africa has the highest mortality rate in Africa and other strains of the virus. They are struggling under the burden of this disease. If you give 100,000 doses to Nigeria that has over 200 million population, is it not a drop in the ocean? At this point, the 100,000 doses initially meant for Nigeria has been replaced with 16 million. The committee has looked at the context of different countries before coming out with their decision.”
The NPHCDA boss noted that the first vaccine Nigeria will now get in February is the Astranzanica Covid-19 vaccine. “Health workers who are at the high risk of contracting this diseases, the elderly and those with underlying diseases will be the first to get the vaccines.
Shuaib disclosed that the cold chain equipment at the Primary Healthcare Centres will be used and that his organization will ensure that every ward gets one cold chain equipment.
“We want to ensure a successful roll out of the vaccines. Many of you were with us at the National Strategic Cold Store to physically see the Ultra Cold Chain equipment. These equipment can store over 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. So, we are ready for any type of vaccine that is allocated to us,” he assured.
February 7, 2021
We are in the process of procuring Covid-19 Vaccines – El-Rufai
The Kaduna state government says it’s in the process of procuring vaccines for COVID-19 for use by residents of the State.
The state governor, Nasir El-Rufai stated this while signing a service level agreement for the distribution of medical commodities in the state.
He says the agreement builds on the state’s investments in primary health care and supply chain transformation in the health sector.
February 3, 2021
NPHCDA assures Nigerians that COVID-19 vaccines investment would strengthen PHC
By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency , NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib has assured Nigerians that investment in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine, the logistics, delivery and administration processes has the dual benefit of protection against COVID-19 infection and strengthening the country’s primary health care system.
Shuaib said this recently during a NPHCDA meeting with religious leaders in Abuja on COVID- 19 vaccines sensitization at the community level.
This was contained in a press release signed by Muhammed Ohitoto, Head, Public Relations of NPHCDA and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.
He further explained that the expected engagement of additional healthcare workers to administer the vaccine and ensure non-disruption of routine services, the intensive capacity building and the acquisition of new and additional cold chain equipment will contribute immensely to strengthening the PHC system.
According to the NPHCDA boss such holistic approach to health system strengthening, driven through the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 is based on global standards and it’s in line with observations and recommendations of donors and development partners.

He however said that any contrary report the vaccines investment approach does not prioritize strengthening of the health system stems from a lack of complete understanding of the health system and should be disregarded.
He was optimistic that irrespective of challenges, long after the country has overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the lessons learnt, the new skills acquired by health workers and the infrastructural improvements would place the country in better stead to manage future pandemics.
He also explained that low and medium income countries like Nigeria would have fair and equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine, adding that the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire is also engaged with the African Union through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team to ensure this success.
He further assured Nigerians that the Federal Government is committed to securing safe, efficient and cost effective COVID-19 vaccines to stop ongoing community transmission of the virus.
In the same way the PTF has called on State governments to put all the necessary logistics in place to ensure a successful vaccination exercise.
Meanwhile, traditional leaders in Nigeria have pledged their support for the COVID-19 vaccine introduction in the country, urging the Federal Government to procure adequate quantities of the vaccine.
His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto has urged Nigerians to get vaccinated as soon as safe, effective NAFDAC certified vaccines are available.
He also stressed the need to disregard rumours about the vaccine and rely only on information from credible sources for decision making.
January 30, 2021