Nigeria has not met its 70 per cent target coverage with the COVID-19 vaccines, says Faisal Shuaib, the executive secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

“We are 21.6 million eligible persons away from reaching its target of fully vaccinating 70 per cent of its eligible population by December 2022,” Mr Shuaib said in an interview on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, the NPHCDA boss said at least 62 per cent of eligible Nigerians had been partially vaccinated.

According to the agency, as of November 25, 56,790,371 eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination are fully vaccinated, while 12,492,646 eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination are partially vaccinated in 36 States and the FCT.

He said half of the eligible population had been fully vaccinated, and “we have also fully vaccinated over 25 per cent of its eligible population in the last 110 days of SCALES 3.0 implementation.”

The NPHCDA boss added that 13.2 per cent of fully vaccinated persons in the country had received the COVID-19 booster dose for additional protection against the virus.

In the last nine days, Nigeria has not registered any new infection of COVID-19. 

In the last six months, the country has sustained a decline in the number of new cases of COVID-19 and a decline in the importation of infection of COVID-19 from other countries.

It has also seen a consistent decline in hospitalisation, and the country has not recorded any mortality in the last 46 days.

Meanwhile, the latest COVID-19 waves in China have revealed more transmissible but less lethal coronavirus strains, but it is too early to be optimistic, public health experts have warned.

(NAN)