Following Tuesday’s arrival of Lagos share of the COVID-19 vaccines, a multi-stakeholder COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Distribution Committee led by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, will today hold a meeting to decide on modalities for their distribution and administration.

Mr. Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to the Incident Commander, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, disclosed this to Peoples Gazette on Wednesday.

Regarding the distribution of the vaccines allocated to the state by the federal government, Mr. Akosile noted, “There is a committee set up by the state government headed by the state’s Commissioner for Health. So, they are working on the modalities for the distribution and administration of the vaccines today. Let them conclude, and they will brief us.”

From the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, Lagos received a consignment of 507,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines out of more than 3.9 million doses, representing the largest share to any state.

The COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Nigeria is an initiative co-led by GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Mr. Akosile emphasised Mr. Sanwo-Olu’s statement that with the first consignment, the state government would also “prioritise health workers and some critical segments of the society like the elderly, teachers, etc.”

Nigeria is still expecting about 42 million more doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Force, which means Lagos will receive more doses when the next batch arrives.

Other parts of the country that had received a consignment of the federal government’s first rollout plan of the vaccines include the FCT (219,800 doses), Nasarawa (61,000 doses), Ekiti (52,960 doses), Ondo (75,570 doses), Ogun (50,000), and Benue (50,000).

According to Punch, Katsina will receive between 150,000 and 160,000 doses of the vaccine next week.