3 hours ago
31
Place your adverts here on InfoDig @ low rates; banner ads, sponsored links and guest articles etc. Contact us
The launch makes Nigeria one of the first in the world to endorse the new R21 vaccine which was provisionally approved by Nigeria’s medicines regulator in April last year.
It was developed by scientists at Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India and Novavax.
Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said Nigeria had received 846,200 vaccine doses, procured in partnership with global vaccine group Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF. A balance of 153,800 more doses is expected on Oct. 26 to make it a million.
“Vaccines are not enough, so in the context that they are not enough but free, I want to encourage all well-meaning Nigerians to take advantage of the limited availability and make their wards available to be administered and protected,” Pate told reporters at the launch in the capital Abuja.
The two pilot states for the rollout are Kebbi in the north and Bayelsa on the coast, ahead of a national rollout, Pate said.
Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, kills more than 600,000 people each year, most of them African babies and children.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is the world’s worst-affected country with 31% of global deaths from malaria, according to a 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) report.
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA has 23 years experience as a Finance Writer, specialising in Insurance and Investigative Reporting.
)
English (US) ·