With the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign weekend in Nigeria, the plan to vaccinate over 70 percent of the population between 2020 and 2021 began in earnest.
The roll-out began at the National Hospital Abuja following a positive outcome of the final assessment by the  National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC. Last Tuesday, Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, being the first shipment of 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility to vaccinate 20 percent of the population. Phases of the roll-out of the vaccines In February, the Federal government had explained that the vaccine doses will be rolled out in four phases. The first-phase recipients are the front-line health workers because of their high risk of exposure.
Also prioritised are President Mohammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Chief of Staff to the President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation/Chairman Presidential Task Force and members of the PTF, among other Presidential aides. In the second phase, persons aged 50 years and above will be targetted, while, in the third phase, individuals aged 18 to 49  that have comorbidities will be attended to. In the fourth and final phase, the remaining eligible members of the population, who are the individuals aged 18 to 49 without medical challenges. The nationwide vaccine rollout is set to commence 12th of March. Each beneficiary is expected to obtain two doses, spaced 3-4 weeks apart, to obtain full immunity against the coronavirus. Registration link On 1st of March, the federal government opened an online registration portal on the website of the NPHCDA on its website http://nphcda.gov.ng Known as the Electronic Management of Immunisation Data, EMID, Registration Portal, the platform captures data and schedules persons for COVID 19 vaccination. The T.E.A.C.H strategy The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA launched the registration portal in line with what it calls the T.E.A.C.H. Strategy. According to the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, the strategy is an indigenous approach to COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria. Essentially, T.E.A.C.H stands for T – Traditional Vaccination Campaign Approach; E – Electronic Self-Registration by Eligible Nigerians; A – Assisted Electronic Registration; C – Concomitant Registration & Vaccination, and H – House-to-House Electronic Registration. Vaccination anxiety and apathy Hurdles that the Federal Government and partners must surmount to ensure a hitch-free vaccination exercise. Primary among these is the growing apathy to the vaccination process among Nigerians. Even before the vaccine roll-out, a number of persons expressed apathy to the vaccines. Many have actually vowed not to register of make themselves available for vaccination an average of seven out of 10 people said they would decline to accept the vaccines. In addition, is the general disbelief that COVID-19 exists. Vaccination challenges Challenges that may affect the successful vaccination of Nigerians, against COVID-19, have been identified. Criticisms about government’s readiness and commitment towards ensuring the timely vaccination of Nigerians have been circulating even before the vaccines arrived. While the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has been in charge of the national response, the coordination of the vaccination is the sole role of the NPHCDA. Health watchers continue to express worry over the lack of restrictions around the vaccination dates. They pointed to the lack of verification of the claims on the registration site as one of the challenges. They also point to logistics challenges that may affect the successful vaccination process. There are fears that Nigeria may face security and logistics challenges especially, transportation of vaccines by road to states where there are no airports. Health watchers have cited the need to properly certify the vaccines for safety, good storage system, public enlightenment, availability, and accessibility, as well as equity in the distribution as hurdles the country must cross.
Mass vaccination does involve many problems, such as safety, logistics and logistical support. I hope that these difficulties can be effectively overcome.