The Federal Government has said over 1.6 million eligible persons have been fully vaccinated.

The Executive-Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said this at the at the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), on Monday.

Shuaib said 1,692,315 persons have received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, as approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He also said that as of Monday evening, 4,052,756 eligible Nigerians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

“This is made up of 2,645,020 persons with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,407,736 persons with first dose of Moderna vaccine. A total of 1,692,315 eligible persons are fully vaccinated and we currently have a national average of 70.4 per cent utilisation of the 2,000,040 doses of modern vaccines we received,” Shuaib said.

He also mentioned that states have been told to issue only 50 percent utilization rates for Moderna vaccines in order to reserve for the second doses for all those already vaccinated.

He said states have the responsibility to protect the vaccines and vaccination cards sent to them while giving stern warning against any corrupt acts in the process of vaccination, and that any state caught will no longer be given vaccine.

“We have received reports of people trying to procure cards from health workers, these reports are being investigated and anyone found wanting would be prosecuted. It is important to emphasize that it is in the interest of public safety and collective well-being of Nigerians that the Federal Government has made available these vaccines free for all eligible persons,” Shuaib said.

Nigeria had commenced COVID-19 vaccination on March 5, 2021, having received approximately four million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX, an initiative aimed at ensuring equitable distribution of vaccines globally.

The country also recently flagged off the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination after the delivery of another four million doses of Moderna vaccines from the United States of America Government.

177,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines were also received from the African Union (AU).

The UK government also gave Nigeria 699,760 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines.