The Federal Government says it is working with global health and research organisations who are developing COVID-19 vaccines for the allocation of 2 billion vaccine doses as soon as they are available.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Thursday.
Ehanire said, “Nigeria is also working with the World Health Organisation to finalise enrolment with the ACT – Access To COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, a global mechanism tracking and sponsoring global organisations working on COVID-19 vaccine development.
“We also have interest in the COVAX Facility, which is a Gavi-supported initiative to procure and assure equitable access to vaccines as soon as they are available, especially for lower-income countries.
“This will prioritise Nigeria for an allocation of a part of 2 billion vaccine doses that will be secured in a special plan to protect the interest of poorer countries.”
The country currently has over 50,000 COVID-19 infections and about 1,000 death, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, latest update on Wednesday night, August 19.