The Federal Government on Tuesday said it had delivered Moderna vaccine doses to 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
It added that eight states had yet to receive the vaccine because they lacked requisite vaccine storage capacity, especially backup cold chain facilities.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at a joint briefing on COVID-19 vaccination by his agency, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund and the World Health Organisation in Abuja.
He said the second phase of vaccination with AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine would formally begin on Wednesday (today) and would end on September 5.
He said, “So far, we have deployed Moderna vaccine to 28 states and the FCT. It is pertinent to state that we could not deploy the vaccine immediately after NAFDAC certification because, unlike the AstraZeneca, the Moderna vaccine did not come with complete bar-coding. And this is needed for us to track the vaccines.
“The remaining eight states that we have not deployed the vaccine to have not demonstrated readiness in terms of their cold chain capacity.
“While they have the ultra-cold chain that the Federal Government supplied, we also require that they have backup cold chain equipment.
“For these eight states that have not provided that type of backup plan, we are holding on to the vaccine to ensure that they are adequately prepared before we send the vaccine.”
Shuaib did not disclose the affected states
Meanwhile, the Ogun State government has said it has set up 131 COVID-19 vaccination sites, including 105 fixed sites, as the exercise begins in the state.
The government, which took delivery of 187,426 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses on Thursday, said it listed Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, general hospitals and primary health facilities across the 20 councils among 105 fixed sites for easy access to vaccination.
The Commissioner of Health, Dr Tomi Coker, who said over 126,000 residents were vaccinated in the first phase of the exercise, added that the second phase of the vaccination would run between August 23 and September 11.
She added, “Currently, in Ogun State, the number of confirmed cases is 5,181 with 73 deaths being 1.4 per cent of the total number of cases.”
Also, the Borno State Government said it started the vaccination on Monday after taking delivery of 63,336 doses of moderna vaccine last Wednesday.
The acting Director, Disease Control and Immunization, Dr Goni Abatcha, said, “Eight local government areas in central and northern Borno started yesterday (Monday). He added that vaccination in other councils would start today (Wednesday).
