President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will pick dates on which they will be vaccinated publicly from the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is about four million doses, expected to arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday.
Executive director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 briefing on Monday in Abuja.
Shuaib said that the secretary to the government of the federation and chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, would liaise with other key strategic persons to fix the date for the public vaccination aimed at protecting Nigerians against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shuaib said: “I once again assure Nigerians that all necessary safety and quality control measures have been put in place for the arrival, storage and successful administration of the vaccine in the country.
“There is going to be a small ceremony, chaired by the chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, to receive the vaccine at the VIP Protocol section, General Aviation Terminal of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“At the end of the ceremonies to mark the arrival of the vaccines, a few vials of the vaccines would be handed over to the NAFDAC team for analysis over a period of two days (Wednesday, March 3 and Thursday, March 4).
“Further to the clearance by NAFDAC, the PTF, FMOH, NPHCDA and strategic leaders will be at the treatment center of the National Hospital on Friday, March 5th 2021, where the first vaccination site will be set up to commence the vaccination of the frontline health workers and support staff.
“These Staff would also be electronically registered in the COVID-19 vaccine database and would receive their COVID-19 vaccination card which has a QR code that can be verified worldwide.”
On Saturday, March 6th, key strategic leaders will receive the first dose of the vaccine.
