The federal government on Monday took delivery of two million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine donated by the European Union.

The handover of the vaccines was done at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Strategic Cold Store, Abuja.

The EU ambassador, Samuela Isopi, who presented the vaccines, said the donation was part of the EU’s commitment to jointly combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The executive director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, said the federal government also, in combating the pandemic, had procured over 39 million doses of the J&J vaccine, through the AFREXIM bank.

Mr Shuaib said about 12 million doses of this single-shot vaccine were currently in the cold store.

According to him, the J&J vaccines will be given to those who are in the hard-to-reach areas (riverine areas, desert areas, and security-compromised areas).

He said this was because the J&J vaccine required only a single dose for full vaccination, noting that by this, the health workers would be able to do what is called a ‘touch and go’ without compromising their safety.

Mr Shuaib, however, stated that “the availability of different vaccine brands does not in any way mean that some categories of people are selected for high-quality vaccines while others are targeted for low-quality vaccines.”

The NPHCDA boss stated that Nigeria had vaccinated 15,792,392 (14.1 per cent) of her eligible population with the first dose.

The Federal government in August 2021 took delivery of 177,600 J&J vaccines in Abuja, marking the first wave of arrivals of COVID-19 vaccines procured through the African Union.

In September 2021, additional 1,123,200 doses of the J&J vaccine were received, which the NPHCD said were part of the 39,800,000 doses procured by the Federal Government.

(NAN)