The Federal Government, through its National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), has commenced online registration of Nigerians interested in taking COVID-19 vaccination ahead of the Tuesday arrival of the first batch of the nation’s vaccines.
The agency disclosed this in a series of messages posted on its Twitter handle, @NphcdaNG, on Monday.
“We have provided an e-registration link to enable Nigerians (to) register for the #COVID19Vaccine themselves, obtain their pre-vaccination numbers and schedule their preferred date and time for vaccination,” one of the messages quoted the agency’s Executive Director, Faisal Shuaib, as saying.
“To register for #COVID19 Vaccination, visit our website https://t.co/RVn9HsK1Ga and click on COVID-19 Vaccination e-registration,” another message read.
The agency however made it clear that in the first phase of the vaccination, health care workers, frontline workers, including the military, police, oil and gas workers, Nigerians at the border posts, and strategic leaders among others will be prioritised.
In another message, the NPHCDA disclosed that a female healthcare professional, Osindeinde Abodede, emerged the first person to register for the vaccination.
“Congratulations, Mrs. Osindeinde Ademilayo Abosede, a frontline health care professional. She is the first to register for the #COVID19 Vaccination,” the message read.
According to the test message received by the healthcare worker after completing her registration, which was attached to the tweet, she was booked to be vaccinated on March 12, 2021 between 10am and 12 noon in Abuja.
The message read, “Dear Osindeinde Ademilayo Abosede, you have successfully registered and scheduled for the first dose of COVID-19 Vaccine at fc (sic) Abuja Sheraton and Towers Hospital in 2021-03-12. Morning -10am -12noon.”
Her vaccination ID was blurred in the message.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has said that Nigerians under the age of 18 years will not receive the COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, said that the Federal Government planned to cover 70 percent of Nigerians within two years.
Mamora warned that private organisations were not permitted to procure, distribute and administer the coronavirus vaccines.
To ensure smooth management of the four million vaccines arriving on Tuesday, Mamora said the PTF had approved the TEACH strategy and the electronic management immunisation system.
He said that the strategy called the TEACH approach harnesses all the benefits of traditional, electronic, assisted and concomitant house-to-house registration to optimise the use of innovative technology.
Mamora said that the TEACH approach entails the traditional method of vaccinating target populations using desk review of available data sources, identifying the vaccination sites and roll out.
He described the strategy as innovative to ensure a smooth rollout so that no one was left behind.
Mamora warned against private importation of vaccines and emphasised that only the National Primary Health Care Development Agency would import and manage vaccines until further notice.
