WorldStage Newsonline– President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday signed a law to check the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed this while handing over five ambulances donated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federal Ministry of Health on Wednesday in Abuja.
Mustapha said that the bill, titled “COVID-19 Health Protection Regulations 2021”, was an exercise of the powers as conferred on the president by Section 4 of the Quarantine Act.
He said, “The regulations enforce physical distancing of at least two metres and a regulation of the number of people to be admitted in an enclosed environment
“In the exercise of the powers conferred upon me by Section 4 of the Quarantine Act, Cap. Q2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2010 and all other powers enabling me in that behalf; and in consideration of the urgent need to protect the health and wellbeing of Nigerians in the face of the widespread and rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria, I, Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hereby make the following Regulations.”
“The first part of the new regulations imposes restrictions of gatherings and enforces a physical distancing of not less than two meters between persons at all times.
“The part also provides that no gathering of more than 50 persons shall hold in an enclosed space, except for religious purposes, in which case the gathering shall not exceed 50 per cent capacity of the space.
“All persons in public gatherings, whether in enclosed or open spaces, shall adhere to the provisions of Part two of these Regulations.
“The provisions of these regulations may be varied by Guidelines and Protocols as may be issued, from time to time, by the PTF on COVID-19 on the recommendation of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC),” the law reads.
“The second part of the law addresses operations of public places like open markets, malls, supermarkets, shops, restaurants, hotels, event centres, gardens, leisure parks, recreation centres, motor parks and fitness centres.
“The law provides for wearing of face masks, hands washing, and the use of hand sanitisers, amongst other regulations.
“It stipulates a penalty of a fine or a prison of six months for offenders.
“The President said that the law takes immediate effect.”
Speaking on the donation, the PTF chairman said that the NNPC donated the ambulances to the PTF as part of its support to Government-led efforts in curbing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
According to him, the ambulances donated will be used to support the country’s response to the pandemic and the Emergency Operations Centres to expand the current capacity for transportation of cases.
The SGF acknowledged the support of the NNPC in its fight against the virus, saying “We are grateful to the NNPC for the donation of ambulances to the PTF. We also thank all individuals and corporate organisations that have continued to donate to the government’s effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Meanwhile, Mustapha said that If Nigerians were exposed to COVID-19, they should please quarantine and if there are still ill, they should isolate.
“Please don’t go out – to work, socialize or elsewhere – if you’ve been exposed or have symptoms.
“Travel is risky – best to avoid it if you can but if you must, take precautions including quarantine and testing.
“Remember COVID-19 can spread from people that look and feel well. Don’t let your guard down around friends or relatives just because they look healthy – they may not know they are infected but can unintentionally spread COVID-19,” he advised.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, thank the NNPC for the ambulances and noted that emergency medical situations require a prompt response and any delay could have serious consequences.
Mamora said that the ambulances would strengthen the efforts of the ministry to respond to the health needs of Nigerians, as patients would be able to receive first aid support while on route to the nearest health facility.

WASHINGTON: Democrats in the US Senate will move forward on US President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief plan without Republican support if necessary, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.
Biden has made addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed over 420,000 people in the US and has left millions out of work, a major focus of his first week in office.
Biden is calling on Congress to approve US$1.9 trillion in spending, on top of the roughly US$4 trillion authorised over the past year to address the heavy human and economic toll.
“We want to work with our Republican colleagues to advance this legislation in a bipartisan way,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “But the work must move forward, preferably with our Republican colleagues, but without them if we must.”
In the House of Representatives, members of the bipartisan ‘Problem Solvers’ caucus who played an important role in the last Covid-19 aid bill urged the Democratic White House to develop a Covid-19 aid package together with Republicans.
“As we discussed today, our Caucus is committed to working with our Senate colleagues to find a bipartisan path forward on the next Covid-19 relief package,” the co-chairs of the caucus, Republican Tom Reed and Democrat Josh Gottheimer, said in a statement after a phone call with the top White House economic adviser, Brian Deese.
The Senate is split 50-50 following November’s election, but 60 votes are usually needed to pass legislation.
However, Schumer told reporters that an initial vote on passing coronavirus relief could take place next week through a process known as budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority vote.

“I think that would be not just a big mistake at this stage at the start of this administration, but irresponsible given what’s happened with the Covid-19 package. We’re willing to work with them and we said that on Sunday,” Republican Senator Rob Portman told reporters.
Biden has called for unity and bipartisan support of his plan, but Republicans have baulked at the high price tag and senators of both parties have said they want the package to be more targeted.
Meanwhile, congressional Democrats introduced on Tuesday a bill that would increase the minimum wage to US$15 an hour, one of the components of Biden’s coronavirus package – raising the possibility that lawmakers could take a more piecemeal approach to the legislation.
Congressional Republicans have traditionally opposed such measures. In 2019, only three Republicans voted for a similar minimum wage hike in the House. The federal minimum wage has not been changed since 2009, when it became US$7.25 an hour.

Former Minister of External Affairs and Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has described the COVID-19 pandemic as a blessing to Nigeria as well as other medium and low income countries.
Contrary to beliefs that the pandemic has disrupted the universe, Akinyemi said it did not abolish the world structure but restructured it by narrowing gaps within structures in certain aspects.
According to him, the pandemic is a blessing to Nigeria because it has extensively checked financial recklessness of politicians through travel allowance, medical tourism, parties and other unfruitful ventures.
Akinyemi, who appealed to government to invest massively in research and development, made the comment at the weekend as a guest lecturer at Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) 11th convocation titled “New World Order: a post COVID-19 world.”
The former minister, who explained that the pandemic has collapsed the gaps between super powers and lower powers in some areas, urged poor nations to take advantage of the global situation to redefine their position in the world map.
“For example, the lack of drugs to address the issue meant that there was no difference between super power and a failed state in not being able to cope with the pandemic. The insufficiency in all cases of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and total lack of the same in some cases, obliterated the world structure as we know it.”
According to Akinyemi, some countries have stepped up from an “internationalist mode to a nationalist and monopoly mode.” He noted that countries like United States (US), Britain, Russia, Germany and China curtailed air travels, exports of essential medical supplies and other essential products.
On how to square up with the developed nations, Akinyemi said: “Medium income countries could change the structure of the paradigm here in the sense that they could and should become active participants in the industrial process.
“It provides opportunity for the medium and low income countries to become industrial countries by concentrating on production of import-substituted goods, and export value-added goods.”
The former minister bemoaned the negative effects of COVID-19 on democracy, saying the various lockdown measures by government led to huge loss of human rights. He said governments might make vaccination compulsory for travels and access to other social benefits.
On brain drain and search for greener pastures abroad, the guest lecturer said: “Don’t discourage your children, your lecturers from going abroad. They will acquire skills and knowledge, and they all come back to develop Nigeria,” Akinyemi said.

Despite a steady growth in coronavirus deaths, a medical expert says the United States now has an opportunity to "get a hold of the pandemic."
"We're going to see a lot of deaths in the next two months but there is a ray of sunshine," Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a George Washington University medical professor and CNN medical analyst, said Monday on "New Day."
"Over the last four days for the first time in months, we've seen a steady decline ... a thousand per day fewer hospitalizations in the United States," he said. "We've seen the same trend in new cases."
Nationally, hospitalizations are now around 124,000 per day, down from 132,000 a few weeks ago. Reiner also said testing has increased in recent weeks, but test positivity has dropped to around 11% from a peak of 14% a few weeks ago.
"All of those metrics point to the conclusion that we may have passed the peak," he said. "If we stay put now and we mask up and we get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible, we can start to get a hold of this pandemic."
Still, Covid-related deaths are nearing 400,000 in the United States, and the country passed the 24 million mark in total cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More than half -- 60% -- of all Covid-19 cases in the United states have been reported since Election Day, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
California, the current epicenter of the pandemic in the US, became the first state on Monday to record more than 3 million Covid-19 cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins and the Covid Tracking Project. The number of Covid-19 cases in California has tripled in just the past two months.
And multiple US states have now reported cases of a new Covid-19 variant first detected in the UK. The number of cases of this variant are likely to "double every week," according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner.
"In about five weeks, this is going to start to take over," Gottlieb said during an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"The only backstop against this new variant is the fact that we will have a lot of infection by then so there'll be a lot of immunity in the population, and we will be vaccinating more people," he added. "But this really changes the equation and I think what we're looking at is a relentless strike from this virus, heading into the spring."
"We could have persistently high levels of infection in the spring until we finally get enough people vaccinated."
And while Covid-19 variants are not necessarily more deadly, they still can cause more deaths, Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC on Sunday.
"Even though on a one-to-one basis, it's not more virulent, meaning it doesn't make you more sick or more likely to die, just by numbers alone, the more cases you have, the more hospitalizations you're going to have, and the more hospitalizations you have, the more deaths you're going to have," Fauci said.
A new Covid-19 variant is now "increasingly being found in multiple counties throughout California," state health officials announced Sunday in a news release.
The variant, known as 452R, is different from the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom, health officials say. As testing for variants has ramped up in California, the 452R version has been identified more frequently since November and has been identified in large outbreaks in Santa Clara County.
"It's too soon to know if this variant will spread more rapidly than others, but it certainly reinforces the need for all Californians to wear masks and reduce mixing with people outside their immediate households to help slow the spread of the virus," said California Department of Public Health epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan.
Fortunately, the number of deaths has basically stabilized. With the development of vaccines, although 400,000 deaths have occurred, most people still do not pay attention to them and believe that they will not be infected with COVID-19 as long as they are vaccinated. This idea is extremely wrong. Vaccines only serve a preventive effect and can not guarantee that they will not be infected. I hope they still have to do basic protection, so that is the fundamental way to solve the problem.

ABUJA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Nigeria’s senate president said that despite forces “working desperately” to derail a long-delayed oil overhaul bill, lawmakers will push the bill through the national assembly.
The measure, 20 years in the making, underpins everything from oil exploration to gas pipelines and fuel regulation. President Muhammadu Buhari sent it to the senate in September, and it passed a first reading in both chambers before the end of 2020.
The bill would change the structure of state oil company NNPC, amend oil and gas taxes and revenue-sharing and create new regulatory bodies, among other things, to make Nigeria’s oil sector more dynamic and efficient.
The laws governing Nigeria’s oil and gas exploration have not been fully updated since the 1960s because of the contentious nature of any change to oil taxes, terms of exploration, and revenue-sharing.
With the other key bill - the 2021 budget - now signed into law, the petroleum bill will be the first priority when the national assembly reconvenes later this month.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan said that people inside and outside Nigeria were fighting to scuttle the oil reform.
But he likened the bill to a law passed in 2019 to increase the government’s take of offshore oil revenues, one that oil companies opposed and regarded as a “joke”, he said.
The national assembly passed it within weeks of introduction and it was quickly signed by Buhari.
“That is what we intend to do with the PIB (Petroleum Industries Bill) by the grace of God,” Lawan said.

The federal government has appealed to Nigerians not to be hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it gets to Nigeria.
An official also said President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and other prominent Nigerians are willing to be among the first set of Nigerians to receive the vaccine on live television to help drive acceptance.
Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) briefing on COVID-19 on Thursday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria intends to get 42 million COVID-19 vaccines to cover one fifth of its population through the global COVAX scheme.

Nigeria has warned that foreign visitors who fail to present their COVID-19 test certificates on arrival could have their visas revoked.
Addressing a news conference in the capital Abuja on Tuesday, immigration chief Muhammed Babandede said based on the powers he had and the additional conditions for entering the country, every visitor must have the COVID-19 test result.
"if you don't do the test, it means you have violated the condition of entering, your visa can be revoked and you can be removed immediately," he said.
"Lack of compliance is a threat to public health. The next visa for global travel is health, especially a COVID certificate."
Babandede said that 100 travelers have been placed under a temporary travel ban due to non-compliance to the mandatory seven-day post-arrival COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test.
“We have complied by blocking 100 passports from travel, which means, even if they go to the police and declare those passports missing, they cannot be reissued anywhere in the world."
He added: “They cannot cross our national borders until the period of six months or communication received from the right authorities stating that they have complied."
The West African country has so far confirmed 92,705 infections and 1,319 related deaths. Cases have been rising since last month.
On Tuesday, it recorded 1,354 new cases, the highest daily number since the outbreak. The previous high of 1,145 cases was recorded on Dec. 17, 2020.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria hopes to get 42 million COVID-19 vaccines to cover one-fifth of its population through the global COVAX scheme, said Faisal Shuaib, head of the country's primary healthcare agency, on Tuesday.
Shuaib said the batch of vaccines would come as part of Nigeria's plan to inoculate 40% of the population this year, with another 30% in 2022. By the end of January, 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are expected to arrive, he said.
The COVAX scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries such as Nigeria, whose 200 million people and poor infrastructure pose a daunting challenge to medical officials rolling out the vaccinations as the West African country battles a second, larger spike in coronavirus cases.
Nigeria, where officials recorded low coronavirus numbers through much of 2020, had 1,204 new cases on Monday, its highest ever, as total confirmed cases edged closer to 100,000. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
Nigeria will first inoculate frontline health workers, first responders, national leaders, people vulnerable to coronavirus and the elderly, Shuaib said during a regular COVID-19 briefing in the capital Abuja.
He also underscored popular resistance to vaccines and said Nigeria must educate people on their importance.
"We fear what we don't understand," said Shuaib.

Great！ The vaccine is what many of us want to get, but we are more worried about it, because we don’t know the safety of this COVID-19 vaccine, so most of us dare not get it.

LOS ANGELES: A nurse in California tested positive for Covid-19 more than a week after receiving Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, an ABC News affiliate reported on Tuesday, but a medical expert said the body needs more time to build up protection.
Matthew W, 45, a nurse at two different local hospitals, said in a Facebook post on December 18 that he had received the Pfizer vaccine, telling the ABC News affiliate that his arm was sore for a day but that he had suffered no other side-effects.
Six days later on Christmas Eve, he became sick after working a shift in the Covid-19 unit, the report added. He got the chills and later came down with muscle aches and fatigue.
He went to a drive-up hospital testing site and tested positive for Covid-19 the day after Christmas, the report said.
Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with Family Health Centers of San Diego, told the ABC News affiliate that this scenario was not unexpected.
“We know from the vaccine clinical trials that it’s going to take about 10 to 14 days for you to start to develop protection from the vaccine,” Ramers said.
“That first dose we think gives you somewhere around 50%, and you need that second dose to get up to 95%,” Ramers added.

Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, has once again expressed his disagreement with the Federal Government's public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bello has long been a vocal critic of the handling of the pandemic and has called the coronavirus a 'hoax' marketed by the media to spread unnecessary panic.
Over 79,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Nigeria since February with more than 1,200 people dying as a result of infection.
After months of recording low figures on a daily basis, Nigeria's COVID-19 cases have spiked in December with over 13,000 infections detected by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in three weeks.

Hopes about ending the pandemic has improved over the past few weeks with the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States and the United Kingdom.
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday, December 22 his government will ensure that Nigerians benefit from the vaccines expected to effectively contain the novel disease.
"This is an important obligation that we owe Nigerians as we go into year 2021, and it must be carried out through an efficient machinery," he said.
Nigeria is expected to spend hundreds of billions of naira on procuring the vaccines next year, but Bello believes the nation's economy and insecurity should be the focus of the Buhari-led government.
While speaking during a Channels TV interview on Wednesday, December 23, Bello said the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has not been giving Buhari the right ideas on managing the pandemic.
He said, "We have an economy that Mr President inherited, struggling, recession, low income, left, right, and centre; and Mr President is doing his best to make sure he pulls it out of the woods.
"Those of us charged with the responsibility of advising Mr President should do that with utmost fear of God almighty."
Bello said the economic disruption caused by COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government has robbed many Nigerians of their livelihood, and should not be allowed to continue.
The 45-year-old said Nigeria should not simply apply the same methods adopted by other countries.
"I don't think we should apply same solution across," he said.
Since it was first detected in China in December 2019, COVID-19 has infected over 78 million people and killed over 1.7 million across the world.

Former Nigeria vice president Atiku Abubakar has urged the Nigerian government to close borders and stop international flights to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
“The reason Nigeria took a harder than necessary hit during the first wave of the #COVID19 virus is that the Federal Government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians, like myself and others, to shut down our borders once the virus became a pandemic,” Atiku tweeted.
“Hindsight is 20/20. Nevertheless, we must learn from history, or we stand the risk of repeating it.”
Atiku, Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 till 2007, stated that the second wave of COVID-19 being experienced in the United Kingdom means that Nigeria’s ill-equipped health sector stands at risk of being overwhelmed to contain the pandemic.
Nigeria’s COVID-19 is currently 78,434 with 68,303 patients treated and discharged. The country has recorded 1,221 COVID-19 deaths according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Nigeria government last week confirmed that the country has entered into the second wave of the virus after recording over 5,000 cases in the first two weeks of December.
Consequently, different state governments have imposed new guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 and Secretary to the government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha lamented that the country risk not just losing the gains from the fight against the virus, but also loose lives of citizens.
Atiku, however, noted that the government must take precautionary actions before its too late.
“The new strain of COVID19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control,” Atiku said.
“Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between Nigerian airports and London, where this new strain has erupted.
“We must face the reality that our health sector is not sufficiently prepared to handle a sudden and unpredictable surge of this pandemic. We have already lost lives needlessly. We need not lose more.”

I hope our government can pay attention to the unpredictable consequences of the new covid19 outbreak in the UK. Because the United States did not pay attention in the early stage, the consequences could not be predicted later. Please put the safety of people's lives in the first place and put forward a new guiding plan as soon as possible.I'm in favor of closing flights.

Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine got the greenlight from a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee Thursday, paving the way for authorization of a second shot aimed at slowing a pandemic that has killed nearly 310,000 people in the United States.
The news came as California became the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., posting in the past 48 hours more than 100,000 new infections and setting a new daily death record. In Southern California, a region that includes Los Angeles and San Diego, ICU capacity fell to 0 percent on Thursday.
Officials in multiple states said they were alerted that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine next week had been reduced.
Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), tapped by Biden to be a White House senior adviser, has tested positive for the coronavirus.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Wednesday was the deadliest day for the United States to date, with at least 3,367 fatalities reported across the country.

A health care worker at the Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, developed a severe allergic reaction shortly after receiving the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine Tuesday evening, and had to be hospitalized overnight.
During a media briefing Wednesday, health officials said the middle-aged woman had no history of allergies and had never experienced anaphylaxis, a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction.
Bartlett Regional Hospital officials said all 96 of its workers who received the vaccine Tuesday were observed for 30 minutes after the shot. The woman starting feeling flushed about 10 minutes into that observation period, and took Benadryl, an antihistamine.
However, her symptoms progressed to an elevated heart rate and shortness of breath, and was sent to the hospital's emergency department.
"She had a red, flushed rash over her face and torso," Dr. Lindy Jones, the emergency physician who treated her, said during the briefing Wednesday. "I was concerned about an anaphylactic reaction." Jones gave her an emergency injection of epinephrine.
Her symptoms abated for a short time, but then re-emerged. She was put on intravenous epinephrine, and moved to the hospital's intensive care unit where she remained overnight. Jones said the woman did not necessarily require ICU resources, but added, "we are a small little hospital here, so if we are concerned about anyone, we put them in the ICU."
As of Wednesday morning, the woman was off all medications, and was expected to be discharged Wednesday evening.
Pfizer said in a statement that the company is "working with local health authorities to assess" the reaction that occurred in Alaska, and will "closely monitor all reports suggestive of serious allergic reactions following vaccination and update labeling language if needed."
That hospital officials were able to identify the reaction and treat it appropriately "demonstrates that the vaccine safety monitoring system is strong and robust for handling the pandemic response," Dr. Jay Butler, head of the Covid-19 response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
Butler said the Alaska case is the only allergic reaction to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reported in the United States so far.
Two health care workers in the United Kingdom experienced similar allergic reactions after receiving the Pfizer vaccine last week. After the Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine for emergency use in the U.S., the regulatory agency said people with a history of allergic reactions should speak with their doctors about the vaccine, but added there was not enough evidence to suggest the majority of people with allergies steer clear of the shots.
Allergic reactions to vaccines or other medications are rare, but do occur. Any facility qualified to administer vaccines is equipped with emergency epinephrine (known to many as an EpiPen) in the event of severe reactions.
Despite her reaction and subsequent hospitalization, health officials said, the health care worker "was enthusiastic that she got the vaccine," specifically about the benefits it might eventually offer her.

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were on hand Monday at George Washington University Hospital to witness doctors and nurses get the first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Five health care workers received initial doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, the first authorized in the country to combat COVID-19.
Azar called it a "momentous event" to develop a vaccine just over 11 months after the novel coronavirus first surfaced but said important work remains to protect Americans.
"We want to have fewer hospitalizations and we want to get our deaths down because every single death we are experiencing is a tragedy," Azar said. "We do not have herd immunity. The strategy for herd immunity in the United States is vaccine-induced herd immunity."

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has unveiled a phased plan for the distribution of initial and subsequent batches of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has unveiled a phased plan for the distribution of initial and subsequent batches of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The move comes as the department is expected to receive around 44,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine as early as next week.
Under the plan, the DoD aims to use the initial allocation to inoculate its continental US (CONUS) and outside the continental US (OCONUS) uniformed service members, including active and selected reserve components.
The vaccination will also be open for National Guard members, dependents, retirees, civilian employees and select contract personnel.
Due to limited availability, the programme will be conducted at 16 locations, including three overseas.
The DoD will be working the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the distribution.
Distribution will begin after the Federal Drug Administration approves emergency use of the vaccine in accordance with Operation Warp Speed guidance.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery said: “We expect to have shots in arms of DoD personnel within 20 to 48 hours from the time the ACIP issues its final recommendation.

(CNN)Dr. Anthony Fauci wants people who still believe Covid-19 is a hoax to know it's real and that the US needs everyone to get behind public health measures.
Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and other health experts have said the next few months will be a challenging time, but Americans can help turn the tide by wearing masks, keeping a distance from others and washing their hands frequently.
However, "trouble is, you go to different parts of the country, and even when the outbreak is clear and hospitals are on the verge of being overrun, there are a substantial proportion of the people who still think that this is not real, that it's fake news or that it's a hoax," Fauci said.
Fauci has advised six presidents. He said he's never seen anything like this.
Biden details plan to combat coronavirus pandemic in first 100 days
"We've got to overcome that and pull together as a nation uniformly with adhering to these public health measures," he said at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit on Tuesday.
That people aren't doing this is "really extraordinarily frustrating, because we feel strongly that we will be able to have a significant impact," he said.
The US surpassed 15 million total reported Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, meaning one in 22 Americans has tested positive for the virus. Experts feel the actual number of infections is much higher.
Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir told CNN people also should try to stay home for the December holidays.
"The end of the pandemic is in sight," he said. "The vaccine will work. It will end the pandemic and return us to as near normal or normal as possible, but we have to do our part right now, which is those mitigations techniques."
Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at a White House vaccine summit, also told Americans to wear their face coverings and follow other guidelines.
"It's the way we'll see our way through the months ahead between now and when the coronavirus vaccine that will likely be approved this week will be widely available for every American," he said.

Rebuilding the nation post Covid-19 will require effective leadership, as the pandemic is not only a public health crisis, but has also heavily impacted and disrupted the economic, political and judicial space.
There is therefore, an urgent need for Government at all levels to be more responsive to the needs of the people, by bridging the yawning gap in trust and confidence between the citizens and the State.
The Founding Principal Partner of J-K Gadzama LLP, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, who disclosed this last on Tuesday in Abuja, during the firm's 12th Annusl Public Lecture themed: "Rebuilding the Nation Post Covid-19 Outbreak: The Judicial, Economic And Political Perspectives", also emphasised the need to institutionalise the use of technology in the administration of justice in the country.
He said, "It is a notorious fact that, the virulence of Covid-19 and its ravaging effects have brought about seismic changes around the world, with its impact heavily felt in arguably all facets of human existence. How we live and interact with each other, how we work and communicate, how we move around and travel; every aspect of our lives has been affected.
"As a matter of emphasis, Covid-19 is not only a global pandemic and public health crisis; it has also severely affected major pillars of various nations' existence, with Nigeria getting its fair share of the spoils. On the economic front, it has brought about significant reductions in income, rise in unemployment, disruption in the transportation services, losses in service industries, low productivity in the manufacturing industry, increase in prices of goods and services, to mention but a few. This has triggered the urgent need to chart a way forward, towards rescuing our economy.
"In the judicial sector, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, courts were labouring under overloaded dockets and case files. The closure of the courts arising from measures aimed at curbing the pandemic, sadly, exacerbated the problem. Awaiting trial detainees had their hearings which may have led to their release from custody stalled, litigants were left frustrated by the impasse, as cases slated for hearing within the period of suspension were stalled, and cases whose cause of action arose within the period of suspension, could not be heard.
"The reopening of courts created nightmarish scenarios as Judges, Court staff, Lawyers and litigants battled to reschedule hearings that could not take place during the lockdown. The result was a backlog that tested the limits of the Nigerian Judiciary, bearing in mind that the system is already bedevilled by protracted trials and undue delay. Justice delayed, they say, is justice denied."
Gadzama added: "Without doubt, the Nigerian Judiciary has been stuck in analogue mode for so long, to our extreme and untold detriment. It would not be out of place to opine that, the Covid-19 pandemic came as a wake-up call on the need to deliberately bolster the institutionalisation of the use of technology in the administration of justice in Nigeria".
In his keynote address, the Chairman of Dialogue Groups, Dr. Mahdi Shehu, stressed on the need to have selfless and well-intended political leaders, resilient political institutions and structures, sound economic policies, and a reliable and dependable justice system, in order to rebuild the nation.
"Indeed nation building has everything to do with respect for rule of law and maintenance of law and order, at all times. Only a solidly built and unbiased Judiciary, is capable of doing the painstaking task of building a nation.
The Chairman of the occasion, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice I.T Muhammad, in his remarks, hailed J-K Gadzama LLP for its consistency in organising its annual lecture series as part of its corporate social responsibility, and for bringing on board some of the brightest minds in Nigeria to discuss very pertinent issues, and to chart a way forward for the country. He described this year's theme of the lecture series as timely, given the current situation in the nation and globally.

The Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Sabo Nanono, has said Nigeria borders will remain locked and the key is thrown into the lagoon.
He stated this, yesterday, at the flag-off ceremony of the distribution of agricultural inputs to farmers affected by the recent flood in Kebbi State. He explained that the Federal Government was not ready to reopen the borders, so as to boost the country’s agricultural sector.
He said: “Nigerian farmers have been performing well by producing such food items as rice, millet, guinea corn, and Shea butter, among others. We are not ready to reopen the borders, which is why the Federal Government is ready to support the dry season farming to regain what farmers lost to the flood disaster.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Adamu Aliero, supported the continued closure of borders, to encourage the growth of local rice farming.
He commended federal and state governments for supporting flood victims in the state.
The Kebbi State Governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu Abubakar, represented by the Deputy Governor, Col Ismail Yombe Dabai (rtd.), thanked the Federal Government for the kind gesture. He assured me of equal distribution of the items.
He appealed to the Federal Government to increase the quantity of the items, to enable them to go round the affected people.
The items shared included rice, millet, guinea corn, and beans, among others.

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 66,607 confirmed cases.
On the 24th of November 2020, 168 new confirmed cases and 1 death was recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 5,838 samples across the country.
To date, 66,607 cases have been confirmed, 62,311 cases have been discharged and 1,169 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 749,136 tests have been carried out as of November 24th, 2020 compared to 743,298 tests a day earlier.
COVID-19 Case Updates- 24th November 2020,
Total Number of Cases – 66,607
Total Number Discharged – 62,311
Total Deaths – 1,169
Total Tests Carried out – 749,136
According to the NCDC, the 168 new cases were reported from 10 states- FCT (61), Lagos (50), Kaduna (27), Oyo (12), Rivers (6), Katsina (5), Ogun (3), Kwara (2), Edo (1), Kano (1).
Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 23,018, followed by Abuja (6,576), Plateau (3,805), Oyo (3,715), Rivers (2,963), Kaduna (2,940), Edo (2,695), Ogun (2,156), Delta (1,823), Kano (1,777), Ondo (1,727), Enugu (1,332),  Kwara (1,095), Ebonyi (1,055), Katsina (1,012), Osun (945), Gombe (938). Abia (926), Bauchi (753), and Borno (745).
Imo State has recorded 662  cases, Benue (493), Nasarawa (485), Bayelsa (445),  Ekiti (354), Jigawa (328), Akwa Ibom (319), Niger (296), Anambra (285), Adamawa (261), Sokoto (165), Taraba (157), Yobe (94), Kebbi (93), Cross River (90), Zamfara (79), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has raised the alarm over the impact of Coronavirus on children, saying it threatens to cause “irreversible harm to children’s education, nutrition and well-being.”
In a statement to commemorate the World Children’s Day, made available to The Guardian in Akure, yesterday, by Mrs. Blessing Ejiofor, the UNICEF Communication Officer, Lagos office, the agency warned that it might lead to a “Lost generation.”
Ejiofor noted that the document, titled:  “Averting a Lost COVID Generation,” is the first UNICEF report to comprehensively outline the dire and growing consequences for children as the pandemic drags on. 
According to her, “it shows that while symptoms among infected children remain mild, infections are rising and the longer-term impact on the education, nutrition and well-being of an entire generation of children and young people can be life-altering.”
She highlighted the new data from UNICEF surveys across 140 countries as COVID-related disruptions pose the most serious threat in respect of critical health and social services for children to children.
I think the impact of covid-19 on children is serious, and it could even affect the future of this country.

ABUJA, 18 November – The Emergency Relief Chief Mark Lowcock has allocated a total of $15 million emergency funding to address rising food insecurity in north-east Nigeria. The ongoing crisis affecting Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe state and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are driving hunger to alarming levels.

Up to 5.1 million people risk being critically food insecure in the crisis-affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, during the next lean season period of June to August 2021, according to the latest official food security assessment and projections.

“The humanitarian community is extremely worried by the rising food insecurity in north-east Nigeria. We are now recording levels of food insecurity similar to 2016-2017, at the peak of the humanitarian crisis, when the risk of famine was looming over the north-east,” stated Mr. Edward Kallon, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria. “We are not at famine levels of food insecurity in Nigeria, but we must spare no efforts to scale up our actions and ensure that the situation does not deteriorate.” According to findings released on 5 November from the Cadre Harmonisé analysis, the most comprehensive food security analytical framework for Nigeria, the food security situation is rapidly deteriorating. Projections for the 2021 lean season, when farmers risk running out of food while awaiting their harvest, indicate an increase of about 20 percent of people at risk of hunger compared to the 4.3 million food-insecure people projected in June 2020 for the same season, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In the past, we have been able to avert food insecurity deteriorating into a famine by working together, pooling our resources and scaling up our efforts” stressed Mr. Edward Kallon. “With adequate resources and improved access, we can save lives and curb the trend of rapidly deteriorating food insecurity. This funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund comes right on time to start scaling up these efforts and I appeal to Member States to provide the resources we urgently need.” At the end of September, aid workers had already provided food to 3 million people across conflict-affected Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states and multisectoral assistance to over 3.6 million people.

However, the joint humanitarian response proposed by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners is critically underfunded. Less than two months before the end of the year, aid actors have received less than half the funds required to provide assistance to the 7.8 million people targeted, which means that critical activities to save the lives of people affected by the crisis remain underfunded.

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund is a pooled fund in which donors preposition funds so that money is available immediately to kick-start relief operations in rapidly evolving emergencies and to provide life-saving assistance in crises that are underfunded. A total of $100 million was allocated today to stave off hunger in seven countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Our eyes are one of nature’s complex wonders. It's no wonder they are regarded as the window to the soul.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated safety measures have prompted a change in the provision and delivery of eye health services. A large number of vision programmes have been temporarily suspended, including mobile eye-screening exercises and non-emergency surgeries, in an attempt to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for both patients and health workers.
While several concerns have been raised regarding the role of the eyes in the transmission of the virus, especially given the proximity of eye-care professional to patients during eye examinations, the pandemic surely has implications both for eye health and eyecare professionals.
This current situation is likely to have a huge impact on eye health in general because the VISION 2020 Right to Sight global initiative – a joint programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020 – cannot now be attained as had been hoped, as people living in underserved regions who relied on outreach services are going to be the most affected.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday declared that dealing with the disruptions caused by COVID-19 on economies and livelihoods, stronger international cooperation and collaboration among countries was crucial to expedite economic recovery.
Osinbajo stated this during the 8th German-Nigerian business forum that held virtually. The event also featured presentations by representatives of the German and Nigerian business communities.
Emphasizing the importance of building stronger collaboration and cooperation in post COVID-19 era, the vice president said: “As it turned out, the pandemic is no respecter of borders, and has forced us to ponder on the importance of collaboration and international cooperation in solving some of our most pressing problems.
Osinbajo stated this during the 8th German-Nigerian business forum that held virtually. The event also featured presentations by representatives of the German and Nigerian business communities.
Emphasizing the importance of building stronger collaboration and cooperation in post COVID-19 era, the vice president said: “As it turned out, the pandemic is no respecter of borders, and has forced us to ponder on the importance of collaboration and international cooperation in solving some of our most pressing problems.
“This year will probably go down as perhaps the most challenging in recent global history. No one can be blamed for the circumstances that led to it. However, history will hold us responsible as individual nations and collectively if we do not see and seize the immense opportunities that the moment presents.
“Bilateral cooperation is a major plank of that effort. We must use the German Nigeria forum to snatch growth and prosperity for our countries from the jaws of the pandemic.”
On the German-Nigerian business cooperation, Osinbajo said: “There are several reasons the economic relationship between Nigeria and Germany is important and natural.
“With its population of nearly 200 million people and as the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria is a natural partner of Germany, which is also the largest economy in the European Union and also its most populous country. Both countries have a shared experience of paving the way in their respective continents and serving as strategic entry points for investors across industries.”
The vice president said the focus of the Nigerian government’s interventions was aimed at addressing the fallouts of the pandemic.
“The priorities we, as a government, have set for ourselves are centered around nine inter-related and inter-connected areas, which include
stabilising the economy, achieving agriculture and food security, attaining energy sufficiency especially in power and petroleum products, improving transportation and other infrastructure and driving industrialization with a special focus on SME’s.”
Other participants at the meeting include Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar; Germany’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Birgitt Ory and the Chief Executive Officer of Afrika-Verein, Christoph Kannengiesser.
At this difficult time, globalization must be developed instead of trying to destroy globalization as the United States did. We and Germany can complement each other economically, which helps our economic development.

Prospective corps members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will have to undergo COVID-19 tests before commencing orientation.
NYSC spokesperson, Adenike Adeyemi, in a statement said the director-general, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said no camp will be shut down as a result of one testing positive to COVID-19.
Ihekwazu stated that prevention, detection and prompt response are germane to the safe reopening of the 37 NYSC Orientation Camps nationwide on Tuesday.
The NCDC boss made this assertion during a webinar held for the 2020 Batch ‘B’ Prospective Corps Members getting ready for Orientation Course.
He revealed the centre’s preparedness to collaborate with the NYSC to ensure that no Corps Member comes in harm’s way when camping resumes.
Ihekweazu stated that “all the Prospective Corps Members and Camp Officials shall undergo COVID-19 test in order to ascertain their health status and in the event of a Prospective Corps Member testing positive, Corps Members should not panic as adequate measures have been put in place in all the NYSC camps to manage such case.”
He noted that care and support will be given to COVID-19 patients and appealed that no one should be stigmatised.
While noting that COVID-19 curve has continued to flatten in the country, he counselled that it is not yet uhuru, urging the prospective corps members to exercise caution as the deadly virus is still around.

The NCDC boss said it has been a trying time for the country, but expressed happiness that the challenge has brought the NYSC and NCDC together to work in partnership for the common good of the country.
While reemphasising the need to take responsibility, he admonished the webinar participants to observe the precautionary measures against the dreaded virus. He challenged the participants to be the leader the country needs at this critical time.
NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, praised the NCDC DG and his team for working tirelessly to safeguard the health of the nation, stating that there will be zero tolerance for risky behaviours that will compromise the health in the camps.
Ibrahim commended the NCDC Chief Executive over the donation of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to the NYSC, pledging to put them to good use.
He appealed to the webinar participants to eschew fake news and encouraged them to always approach the camp management for clarification on issues of interest.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has inaugurated a taskforce for the implementation of COVID-19 protocols in all the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Yerima Peter Tarfa, who inaugurated the the Ministerial Taskforce recently said it would ensure that people in the work place complied with the COVID-19 Protocol, aimed at curtailing the spread of the virus.
He said the federal government through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had articulated and communicated the protocols on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
"The implementation required proper monitoring and comprehensive enforcement for effectiveness," he said
According to Tarfa, the information on the prevention of the spread of the virus needed to be passed down to different levels, and disseminated across the board, especially at the work place, adding that the Ministry's Taskforce on the Implementation of COVID-19 protocol was set up for that purpose.
He also added that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) had directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies to make sure that members of staff worked in a healthy environment, especially as all civil servants had resumed work.
Tarfa charged the taskforce "to ensure that the work environment in the ministry is safe. They are to ensure enforcement of the protocols of COVID-19 in all departments and also provide the modalities for staff to live with the new normal that the virus has presented."
Director of Human Resources Management at the Labour Ministry who Chairs the Committee, Mrs Toyin Alade said that strict adherence to those protocols would serve to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Alade enjoined the committee to abide by the guidelines from the Office of the Head of Service of Federation in providing the right advice to staff and putting the necessary measures in place.