According to the agency, such surplus will be taken to states with lower doses.
It stated that the reason for this was because of the uncertainty around getting the next batch of COVID-19 vaccines, especially the AstraZeneca vaccine.
It added that from its clean data, about 1.3 million Nigerians have been vaccinated. Its field data, however, shows that almost two million Nigerians have received the COVID-19 vaccines.
The agency also stated that the country has reached between 80 to 90 per cent of its target for the first dose of the first phase of the vaccination.
The National Supervisor for COVID-19 vaccination in Adamawa State, NPHCDA, Muhammad Isawa, made these known in Yola during a media dialogue organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on routine immunisation and COVID-19 vaccination.
However, according to an official statement from the NPHCDA, the total number of persons vaccinated in the country stands at 1,051,096. This brings the proportion of people vaccinated to 52.2 per cent.
He said: “As it is now across the country, any state that has reached the 50 per cent mark of the COVID-19 vaccine intake, we have told them to stop vaccinating. This is because initially, we had the idea that we are going to have more batches of the vaccine in-country, but considering the resumption of other countries now, especially with AstraZeneca vaccine, there is a global shortage now.
“We are not clear when we are going to receive the next batch of the vaccine. Therefore, it is okay and logical to say that when states have reached 50 per cent of vaccination, then they should stop giving the vaccines.
“To some extent, we have vaccinated about 1.3 million, according to the clean data that we have. We have the call-in data and the data that we have in the MH platform, which is the platform that Nigeria is going to be using now to say ‘these are the people that we have vaccinated with the doses of the vaccine that we have in-country’.
“However, what we are seeing from the field is that we are reaching almost 2 million people that have been vaccinated. However, it shouldn’t be a cause for any alarm because we have some vaccines that we received as donations, like the Indian Government gave us 100,000 doses. Also, a very prominent philanthropist gave Nigeria a million doses. So, we have some donations here and there, and we have other states that may not even utilise that 50 per cent.
“For the states that have utilised more than 50 per cent or 50 per cent of vaccine doses for those they’re supposed to immunise and they have surplus, we are going to push the vaccines from those states to complement those states that do not have.”
He added: “When Johnson and Johnson doses come in-country too from African Union (AU), we are going to push the vaccines to the states. However, if you have been given the AstraZeneca vaccine, you cannot receive any other vaccine but AstraZeneca so that you will not have any complications.
“Nigeria is not dumping AstraZeneca for Johnson and Johnson. We are going to be using both vaccines. We may even have Pfizer too. However, if we have Pfizer coming into the country, we have the capacity to store both at the National and sub-national levels.”
Meanwhile, pilgrims will be prioritised in the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination across the country, the Federal Government stated yesterday.
It explained that even though states have been directed to stop vaccination once they reach 50 percent of their vaccination targets, however, priorities will be given to pilgrims as it is a requirement for their pilgrimage.
