- October 2, 2021
- Posted by: admin
- Category: Health, Latest News
Nigeria has missed the 10 per cent target set by the World Health Organisation, fully vaccinating only 1.8 per cent of its population against COVID-19 as of September 29, 2021.
This is just as the Coordinator, Immunisation and Vaccines Development Programme Coordinator for the WHO, Dr Richard Mihigo, revealed on Thursday that only 15 African countries had been able to meet the target.
While only 1.8 per cent of Nigerians have received full vaccination, statistics obtained from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency shows that at least 4.3 per cent of Nigerians have received at least one shot of the vaccine.
The WHO had set a global target for countries to vaccinate 10 per cent of their people by the end of September.
It was observed that while many western countries had surpassed the target, many African countries failed to do so.
Apart from the availability of vaccines, Nigeria may also have witnessed some vaccine hesitancy as statistics showed that the rate of vaccination has not risen significantly despite the availability of the jabs in early August
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said earlier in the week that the Federal Government vaccination would soon be made compulsory for civil servants.
Meanwhile, the WHO says only 15 African countries were able to meet the target.
The Coordinator, Immunisation and Vaccines Development Programme Coordinator for the WHO, Dr Richard Mihigo, said during a press conference on Thursday that nearly a third of Africa’s 54 countries had fully vaccinated 10 per cent of their populations.
“Today marks the deadline for countries to achieve the WHO global target of fully vaccinating 10 per cent of their populations against COVID-19. Fifteen countries in Africa have achieved this target. This result shows some sign of progress but there is still a long way to go,” he said.
He said almost 90 per cent of high income-countries have met this target.
Mihigo added that Seychelles and Mauritius had fully vaccinated over 60 per cent of their populations while Morocco had immunised 48 per cent of its people.
He added that the countries that met the targets enjoyed sufficient supplies of vaccines, and many could access doses from separate sources in addition to those delivered through the COVAX Facility, the global platform to ensure equitable access to vaccines.
“Half of the 52 African countries that have received COVID-19 vaccines have fully vaccinated just two per cent or less of their populations.
“The latest data shows modest gains but there is still a long way to go to reach the WHO target of fully vaccinating 40 per cent of the population by the end of the year,” Mihigo said