First in Nigeria: President Mohammed Buhari and his Vice will receive shots of the COVID-19 Vaccine on Saturday, making them the first in Nigeria.

According to the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, President Buhari and his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo will receive shots of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow (Saturday) to show that the vaccine is safe for use. The announcement was made at the second edition of the State House briefing in Abuja yesterday.

This follows the country’s receipt of the first batch of about 4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX initiative and the planned launch of the national vaccination campaign. According to the government, this vaccination exercise will boost the confidence of Nigerians to receive about 4 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine (major trust issues going on here).

Before the inoculation of the President and his strategic leaders, there will be a Launch of a National vaccination campaign at the National Hospital Abuja today. The vaccination plan is to inoculate the frontline health workers that work in the treatment centre of the National Hospital first before spreading across other frontline healthcare workers, strategic country leaders, the elderly and those with certain medical conditions or other diseases besides COVID.

Following the success of the Vaccine program launch and the inoculation of the President and his strategic leaders, the distribution of the vaccine ensues. The distribution will be based on strict guidelines and requirements. According to Dr Faisal Shuaib, ‘’States have requirements and obligations to fulfil before the Covid vaccines will be released to them. They have to demonstrate they have taken steps to ensure proper storage, security, etc.’’

We are hopeful that when Nigerians see leaders like Mr President and Mr Vice-President take the vaccines; it will increase their confidence around the safety of the vaccines. The receipt of the 3.92 million doses of the vaccine is the first batch from the over 16 million doses allocated to Nigeria through the COVAX initiative, aimed at vaccinating about 20% of the population.

If the Inoculation goes well, will you take the Vaccine?