Usaid provides Nigeria with an extra $5m to help fund the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine

NIGERIA has received an extra $5m in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) to support the administering of the Covid-19 vaccine across the country.

At the height of the pandemic, Nigeria, like many other African nations was benefitting from Covax, the facility set up to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to low-income countries. It started off with the delivery if more than 80m doses to 129 territories, including  an initial 4m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Nigeria.

Subsequently, Nigeria took delivery of over 4m doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine from the US. Last year, the vaccines  were received by United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) officials in Abuja as President Joe Biden fulfilled his pledge to assist poorer countries with vaccination.

Now, Usaid has added to this,. with Dr Olayinka Umar-Farouk, the deputy project director, risk communication of Breakthrough Action Nigeria, revealing the details during a workplan development workshop for the 2023 fiscal year. He explained that the funding was aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy across different states in Nigeria, with key focus on people living with HIV and Aids, healthcare workers and persons with co-mobidity illnesses.

Dr Umar-Farouk said: ”Breakthrough Action Nigeria has been funded by Usaid since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 to support risk communication and community engagement efforts in Nigeria. In furtherance of the government’s efforts to attain 70% vaccination coverage of all eligible adults by September 2022, Breakthrough Action Nigeria has reached 741,791 persons with Covid-19 messages via mass vaccination activities between November 2021 and March 2022 across Abuja, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bauchi, Sokoto, Bayelsa and Kano states. Through these activities, 415,376 persons have been vaccinated.”

He added that according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reports, Covid-19 has affected a total number of 256,415 persons in Nigeria, causing the death of 3,144 persons, while 250,147 persons were successfully treated. Breakthrough Action Nigeria will now put more efforts in the next fiscal year in ensuring that people understand the need to protect themselves and families against the virus, as well as increase vaccine acceptance with focus on persons living with HIV/Aids and other illnesses, as well as healthcare workers.