The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib said.

The FG had scheduled September 25 (today) for the introduction of the HPV vaccine for girls of ages nine to 15, to prevent cervical cancer.

The introduction of the vaccine was scheduled to kick off in 16 states – Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Enugu, FCT, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, and Taraba.

Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cells of the cervix. Various strains of the HPV, a sexually transmitted infection, play a role in causing most cervical cancer.

The HPV vaccine has the potential to prevent more than 90 per cent of HPV-attributable cancers.

In Nigeria, an estimated 14,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 7,968 women die from the disease every year.

However, Dr Shuaib told our correspondent in a chat on Sunday that the HPV vaccination meant to commence Monday (today) has been postponed to October 24, 2023.

He said the introduction of the vaccine was postponed to create more awareness of the vaccine.

He said, “The states were not fully ready to launch. In most launch states, there was a need to create more awareness and demand for the vaccine.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government said it would announce a new date for the introduction of the HPV vaccine campaign scheduled for Monday (today) for logistics reasons as informed by the Federal Ministry of Health

The Lagos State Primary Health Care Board disclosed this in a statement signed by its Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Filade Olumide.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Ibrahim Mustafa, on Thursday.

Mustafa said, “The immunisation campaign which will commence from Saturday, December 17 to Tuesday, December 20, 2022, is aimed at addressing the increase in transmission of a new strain virus due to low routine immunisation coverage occasioned by COVID-19, security challenges and poor access to health.

The Lagos State Government, with support from its partners, has recommended that children of age 0 to five years will receive the novel Oral Polio Virus and the objective is to ensure that all children receive two drops of the vaccine irrespective of their previous immunisation status.

“The routine vaccination team will be visiting all households, hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, recreational grounds, estates, markets, shopping plazas, and other places to carry out the exercise and we solicit the support of parents, guardians, congregants and estate executives, among others.”

Despite having achieved the wild polio-free certification on August 25, 2020, Nigeria still had cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 2.

According to the Embassy, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency received the vaccines and ensured that they were taken to cold storage in preparation for distribution to over 3,000 health facilities across all 36 states and the FCT.

The Embassy also listed efforts the US government had made to support the Nigerian government in its mass vaccination campaign stating that it had donated over 13 million doses to Nigeria in partnership with COVAX.

“To date, the United States has donated more than 13.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with COVAX, or bilaterally to Nigeria. Additionally, the United States has provided more than $119 million in COVID-19 related health assistance,” the Embassy stated.

“This includes a 40-bed mobile field hospital, ventilators and related training for 88 hospitals, personal protective equipment, technical assistance for vaccine readiness, risk communication and demand generation for vaccines, conducting an epidemiological COVID-19 detection and vaccine hesitancy survey, setting up electronic record systems, rapid response teams, training for over 200,000 military and civilian personnel on COVID-19 control measures, and technology for virtual training.

“In addition, the United States leveraged the PEPFAR-supported National Integrated Specimen Referral Network and laboratory investments to support the expansion of the NCDC (153) molecular laboratory network nationwide.”

The donated vaccine doses will help Nigeria’s mass vaccination drive, which the government plans to make available at major markets, shopping malls, event centres, motor parks, airports, places of employment, and religious institutions.

Shuaib said this in Abuja during a press conference organised to update the public on the status of the COVID-19 vaccination.

He said, “While we have information that we may get the next consignment of vaccines by end of July or August, this has not been officially confirmed. When we are able to, we will provide an update regarding timelines and updates of the next shipment. At present, we do not have that information available due to the wider context we are in. The International Monetary Fund is now advocating a $50bn fund to be spent on ensuring a faster rollout of COVID-19 vaccines globally and is calling for at least, 40 per cent of the global population to be vaccinated by the end of this year, and at least 60 per cent by June 2022.”