According to officials, Nigeria will receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by early February, But they have to be stored in cold temperatures and getting them to rural areas may prove difficult.
With
its ultra-cold chain equipment, Nigeria will ensure that the vaccine will get
to the rural areas.
Dr Faisal Shuaib, director-general of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA) said "What we do have coming to the country is the Pfizer vaccines that require about -70 degrees Celsius"
"This
is why we are actively making sure that we have those vaccines and also bearing
in mind that additional vaccines might be brought from the Covax facility that
will require these types of temperatures."
According
to Shuaib, the NPHDA already has three Ultra Cold Chain (UCC) equipment on the
ground.
"Three
of them have a total capacity of 2,100 liters. So, we have more than enough
space for the 100,000 doses of the vaccine that will be brought in the first instance,"
he said.
But the
country is also looking for easier alternatives.
"We
will be focusing more on those vaccines that do not require these kinds of
complicated cold chain mechanisms. So the Oxford-Astrazeneca types of vaccine
that require +2 to +8 degrees Celsius are what we are going to be focusing
on," he said
Africa's
most populous country has had over 114,000 infections and almost 1,500 deaths
since the outbreak began he concluded.
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