Despite the federal government’s efforts to vaccinate 70 percent of the nation’s eligible population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022, there is still a gap of 14.7 percent, as only 55.3 percent has been fully vaccinated.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday, Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib said that 64,094,498 of the eligible population, representing the 55.3 percent have been fully vaccinated.
The ED, which was represented by the agency’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Abdullahi Bulama, said: “At the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise, we aimed to vaccinate 70% of our eligible population by December 2022. As of today, Monday, January 9, 2023, 76,161,470 eligible people have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria, representing 65.7 percent of our eligible population. 64,094,498 people 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 people who turned 18 years old.
He said that the increase in the number of cases observed worldwide was due to the mutation taking place and the low intake of booster doses, and called on all Nigerians to ensure that they take their booster doses of the vaccines. against COVID-19.
“Like the flu shot, vaccines against COVID-19 have become routine vaccinations that help protect us against this deadly virus.
“As of January 7, 2023, Nigeria has a vaccine stock balance of 28,968,045 doses. More vaccines are still expected in the coming weeks,” he said.
