The Federal Government has approved the administering of the second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for eligible Nigerians who received the first shots.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, announced the approval during the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) briefing in Abuja.
Shuaib advised health workers, frontline workers aged 18 years and above and persons aged 50 years and above to visit any designated vaccination site to receive the vaccine free of charge.
“I want to remind you that the eligibility period between the first and second doses of the vaccine has been expanded from 12 weeks to between six to 12 weeks, in line with the scientific recommendation provided by the World Health Organisation’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE on immunization).
“The PSC has approved the second dose of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccination in all states of the federation and the FCT.
“We have redeployed Senior Supervisors to the states and have continued to monitor activities with daily evening review meetings to determine the status of the COVID-19 vaccine implementation in all states and the FCT.
“These meetings, allows us to receive reports from the sub-national level on how the campaigns are proceeding, what challenges they face, and how we can pro-actively anticipate and resolve any impending challenges.
“The meetings also provide an avenue to troubleshoot and resolve any operational hurdles as they emerge, before they become problematic,” he explained.