(Bloomberg) -- Lagos state, which is home to Nigeria’s commercial hub, set up an anti-corruption agency to investigate government officials and curb public waste.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed a law creating the new body on Monday, several days after Lagos’ parliament approved the bill, a spokesman said in an emailed statement. The organization will be responsible for probing state government employees and contractors “for economic crimes and financial misappropriation” and prosecuting them in court if necessary, he said.
Lagos is the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, hosting headquarters of most large international and domestic businesses present in Africa’s largest economy.
The agency will “complement” similar existing departments in the police and federal government, including the country’s main anti-graft organization, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the statement said.

Director-general of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda, yesterday, reaffirmed that the suspension of the crypto assets investment guidelines proposed by the agency last year is still valid.
At a press briefing after a meeting of the Capital Market Committee, yesterday, Yuguda said the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decision to close accounts of crypto exchanges in Nigeria to protect the financial system from abuse has disrupted the market.
He insisted that SEC’s suspension of the proposed guideline would remain valid until operators of the various crypto exchanges have access to their accounts in Nigerian banks that were closed by CBN.
“SEC remains supportive of the growth of Financial Technology (Fintech). We have invested in developing a framework to support crowdfunding, investment advice, and cryptocurrencies.
“In other areas of financial technology, nothing has changed but for cryptocurrency. With the recent publication by the CBN directing Nigerian banks to close crypto exchanges account, the 2020 guidelines issued by the commission to regulate the market are still under suspension.”
Yuguda, who said the commission and the CBN were working out modalities to enhance optimal regulation of the market, promised that the outcome of the interface would be made public.
“We are in close discussions with the CBN for better regulation of the market. We will come back to tell you the outcome of the interface,” he said
On the creation of new rules for the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the new operating exchange post demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Yuguda said “the existing rules governing the exchange are still operational until there is need to create new rules for the exchange.
“As needs arise for new rules to be created, we will look into it but the rules that have been governing the exchange are still valid.”
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had, at a recent forum in Lagos, faulted the prohibition of cryptocurrencies in the country, saying they should rather be regulated.
At a one-day special summit on the economy organised by the CBN, in collaboration with Bankers Committee, the vice president said there was a need for regulators to create knowledge-based regulations that would help maximise the strengths and opportunities associated with blockchain technology and also minimise the risks and threats associated with it.
According to him, Nigeria needs to prepare for the shift to blockchain technology.
“We must move Nigeria’s digital economy into global drive. Nigeria’s ICT is making giant strides. We must build software. As a nation, we have to embrace technology for our development processes,” he said.

Ecofin Agency) - Nigeria will now cooperate with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Bahrain in the digital area. On Monday, April 12, the country joined the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) - created in November 2020 by these five Middle Eastern countries - as a new founding member.
According to the Organization, the axes of cooperation between the various member states will focus on, among other things, the digital inclusion of women and youth, the cross-border flow of data, support for digital entrepreneurship, the development of the regulatory framework.
Nigeria currently places great importance on collaboration to accelerate and succeed in its digital transformation. In March 2021, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Ali Isa Pantami (pictured), made this clear. At the 18th Annual General West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), held in Abuja from March 10 to 11, 2021, he called for experience sharing and mutual support in the sub-region to boost digital growth.
By joining the DCO, Nigeria strengthens its chances of successfully entering the fourth industrial revolution. According to the DCO Council, there is a need to combine efforts to advance national digital transformations, promote inclusive development of the digital economy, and address the long-term challenges posed by the global pandemic.

Ballots were being counted Sunday in Peruvian presidential elections destined for a run-off with no candidate able to fire up the crisis-weary nation, during its deadliest week of the Covid-19 pandemic to date.
Some 25 million people were eligible to vote — which is mandatory — the day after Peru reported its highest-ever daily toll in the pandemic.
With 16 percent of votes counted by early Monday, far-left labor unionist Pedro Castillo took a surprise lead among 18 candidates with 15.7 percent — much higher than polls had predicted but far short of the 51 percent required to avoid a run-off scheduled for June 6.
In second place was rightist economist Hernando de Soto with 14.4 percent, said the ONPE electoral office.
The two candidates with the most votes will contest the second round.
Almost a third of voters had declared themselves undecided ahead of what Ipsos Peru chief Alfredo Torres said was the country’s “most fragmented election” ever.
Many said they turned out, despite fear of infection, merely to avoid the fine of 88 sol (about $24) for not voting.
“We are afraid of getting infected, because this pandemic is terrible, but at the same time I have to vote,” Nancy Retamozo, 58, told AFP while queuing at a school in a Lima suburb.

What comes to your mind when you think of Nigeria? Is it how massive and populated Nigeria is? It is not just the most populous nation in Africa, but it is also the most popular nation in Africa! What exactly is the most famous country in Africa renowned for across the globe? It is Oil.
Africa’s giant, Nigeria, remains the largest oil producer in Africa. Oil plays a major role in the country’s economy. On the other hand, Nigeria’s coastline stretches approximately 853 km and is apparently the richest in biodiversity and mineral resources. Nigeria is blessed with a vast coastline that many other countries could only wish they have. However, with so much diversity and richness of freshwater, natural gas, petroleum, iron, zinc, the region is still among the most degraded and less conserved. Recently, I read an article that stated “Nigeria is a superpower with no power” and it made me think. Nigerians are found in every part of the globe greatly representing the nation in different sectors such as entertainment, education, and business. As a country, Nigeria has a lot to offer visitors with its own hidden treasures but why is it still not thriving? The maritime industry in Nigeria since the early 1990s has been on a downturn pivot. Nigeria has no reason not to be a force to be reckoned with in the global maritime community. I see many challenges that are hindering Nigeria’s growth at the moment. However, years of neglect have damaged the system badly. That said, the maritime sector is definitely going through a tough time but there are no challenges that are impossible to resolve. Nigeria is very close to my heart. I see immense potential in the country. Its natural resources and the remarkable citizens of the country have the ability to change the dynamics of this world. I am a humble servant of the Maritime Industry and it’s my vision to see Nigerian citizens happy and successful. Keeping that in mind, I launched my company, Global Seafarer Recruitment – New Era of Seafarer (GSR) in Nigeria in 2020. Nigeria’s seafarers are unarguably among the best in the world and not utilizing their capabilities can be a big blow to Nigeria as a country. There are a few areas the country must focus on. Below are some of my suggestions: Due to a lack of education and international certification, the younger generation is unable to make use of their full potential. Education plays a vital role in the development of any country, especially where the population is dominated by the youth. Lack of concrete fleet including training fleet-We need to emphasise the corrective and preventive measures to address this issue Lack of legal ground for the protection of seafarers – Seafarers play an essential role in international trade and supply chain. Therefore, the need to ensure the protection of their rights have become crucial in the wake of COVID-19 regardless of their nationality and that can’t be overemphasised. The amount of work done and risk exposure to ensure goods are transported safely from one country to another puts severe strain on the health and welfare of seafarers. Lack of CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) – The CBA is the result of an extensive negotiation process between an employer and an employee regarding topics such as wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment. This should be given utmost importance to prevent any issues at sea,
Lack of proper maritime management – We have seen malpractices in the system due to neglect and it looked like nothing has been done in this sector. Several issues faced by the shipping industry have made seafarers’ lives at sea extremely difficult. The methods in which several issues are being handled by the maritime authorities have led to the aggravation of problems that need to be solved as soon as possible. Though every system has issues and any system can be changed, but we must understand that these conflicts are not only hampering one nation but the entire globe. . Our future is our youth. We are at a crisis point in relations to the world’s young people and Nigeria is an example of this. My advice to the youth in Nigeria is – Spend your time wisely. Take up courses that will enhance your capabilities both personally and professionally. My mission and vision in life are to serve this eponymous industry and create 100% employment for seafarers across the globe. Fostering the dreams of these young seafarers is my dream. Some people don’t believe in giving opportunities to others and helping them. I believe I can help myself by helping others. The world can never flourish if we don’t work as a team. Ukraine, India, Nigeria or The Philippines will remain just another country if we the people will not take action and change it for the world to see that together we are great!

Authorities for Nigeria say dem go stop to dey give di Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after dem don use half of di dose wey dey di kontri.
Di health minister tell tori pipo say since di kontri no sure when di second batch of di vaccine go land, dem need to keep di remaining half for those wey don already collect di first dose.4
AstraZeneca vaccine need two dose to dey effective for pesin body.
Dis Nigerian goment decision no be like say e relate to di tension wey don arise from di big announcement wey European Medicines Agency (EMA) go make on 7 April about di vaccine and im connection to cases of blood clot.
Olurunnimbe Mamora, wey di Junior Health Minister for di West African kontri tell tori pipo today say di goment dey worry well-well say if dem no stop di vaccination program (after dem don use half) di pipo wey don collect already no go fit complete dia dose.
Informate wey Primary Healthcare officials release show say nearly one million Nigerians na im don collect di first dose.
Di goment don already say di vaccination program go first favour frontline health workers and those wey dey vulnerable, like old pipo.
As part of di COVAX programme, Nigeria bin collect four million doses of di Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for February.
All dis dey come as di kontri don begin do clinical trials for two covid-19 vaccines wey dia own scientists don create.
As at di time of dis report, di kontri don record 162,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 2,031 people don die from di virus.

Total Nigeria Plc's FY2o2o performance reflected the peculiarity of the 2020 financial year; bedeviled by the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant logistic difficulties, increased costs, and lower retail margins. The Nigeria downstream oil marketer-Total Nigeria Plc (Total) seems to have had a tough time balancing its costs against sales as its profit dipped. 
The company's gross profit and profit after tax plunged in 2020 despite the significant drop in costs. The key component of the decline in 2020 profit levels is the -29.93% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decline in revenue to N204.72bn from N292.18bn earned in 2019.
Share Price and Volume Movement- Ambivalent
The company share price started the year with relatively stable movement reflecting that investors were neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the outlook of the company's earning. The height of the pandemic around March and April saw a marginal decline when investors were uncertain of the company earnings. The trend continued to August 2020 before picking an upward trend towards the end of Q3 2020, indicating the return of investors' confidence in the company's future. The company's share maintained a stable price from Q4 2020 towards the end of Q1 2021(see chart 1 below).
By volume, the number of shares traded saw high volatility and recorded low figures through the year 2020 save the breakout points between September and October 2020. The company traded below 60,000 share volume in most of 2020. The sharp increase in volume between September and October could be attributed to the upward trend in the company share price that began the previous month. However, the company could not sustain the increase as the volume returned to its low-traded figure beyond October 2020.
Revenue and Profitability- Slide into Pessimism
Revenue
Total Nigeria's revenue fell by -29.93% Y-o-Y to N204.72bn in 2020, the lowest in the last six years (see chart 2 below). A breakdown of the revenue indicated that both petroleum products and lubricants/others have a significant drop in revenue.
Petroleum products' revenue which constituted over 75% of the total revenue fell by -34.83% Y-o-Y from N241bn in 2019 to N157.05bn in 2020. Similarly, lubricants and others which constituted about 20% of the total revenue also fell by -6.85% Y-o-Y from N51.18bn in 2019 to N47.67bn in 2020.
The company's revenue decline underscores the impact of the pandemic which resulted in low demand for petroleum products and others given the squeeze in economic activities and restricted movements across the country.
Profit Before Tax
The company's profit before tax has trended downward over the last four years with a marginal increase in 2018 and 2020. The profit before tax rose by +5.74% Y-o-Y to N2.91bn in 2020 from N2.75bn in 2019. The increase signaled an improved performance during a pandemic compared to the -77.27% decline in profit from N12.10bn in 2018 to N2.75bn in 2019 (see chart 3 below).
Current Ratio
The current ratio fell by -1.15% Y-O-Y from 0.87 in 2019 to 0.88 in 2020. Given the current ratio benchmark of 2 in the industry, the company had some difficulties managing its resources to meet short-term liabilities with current assets. This trend had been on for the past five years (see chart 4 below).
Liquidity Ratio
The company's liquidity ratio for 2020 was 22.38%, a significant increase from 6.38% recorded in 2019, the highest it has recorded in the last six years. The increase is largely driven by an increase in cash and cash equivalent which grew significantly by +276.72% Y-o-Y to N31.01bn in 2020 from N8.23bn in 2019.  The company has included its funds' balance with Total treasury as cash and cash equivalents since its withdrawal could be made instantaneously. This addition pushed up the liquidity position of the company significantly, away from the downward trend recorded in the previous years (see chart 5 below).
Acid-Test Ratio
Acid-test ratio-a stricter measure of liquidity, further shows that the company had consistently been having a high pile of inventories over the past 6 years.  However, the company acid-test ratio in 2020 rose by +25.93% Y-o-Y to 0.68 from 0.54 in 2019 which suggests that the company clamped down marginally on its stock of finished goods (see chart 6 below).The leverage ratio for 2020 declined, to stand at 115.86% against the 140.81% recorded in 2019. The decline in 2020 can be attributable to a slight decline in the company's debt in 2020. While the company's debts would have declined significantly in 2020, its 2020 debt profile fell marginally largely dominated by the commercial papers issued in the year, which accounted for about 45% of the total debt. Also, the higher magnitudes of the leverage ratios in the last three years reflect a high debt profile relative to shareholders' equity in the company (see chart 7 below).Following the trend of activities in 2020, the company experienced some downturns particularly in revenue, profits, and earnings per share. This may raise investors' concern for the future earnings of the company given the slight decline in earnings per share. However, the company was able to grow its assets, possibly in the hope that economic activities will pick up and demand will recover to the pre-pandemic level in the short run.
 
Going by the current uncertainty of business activities due to the lingering pandemic and the uncertainty of oil demand coupled with the volatility in oil prices, Total may be heading in the right direction by seeking to push itself forward in the drive for cleaner energy in Nigeria. This is because some players in the industry had already recognized the significance of gas in their future revenue and for Total to rebound from its downward trending revenue, the company needs to massively explore the gas option.
 
The concern, however, is that the company currently seems only to be expressing its ambition as a major partner to the government on the National Gas Expansion Programme without making the requisite investment for the transition. Another concern is that the ambition may further be capped by financial challenges given the decline in revenues and profits in recent years.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari shows his vaccination certificate after getting a COVID-19 jab at the presidential villa in Abuja.
ABUJA - Critics of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari have launched an outcry after he flew to London for a medical visit, highlighting his frequent trips abroad for treatment and the country's ramshackle health system.
Buhari (78) has made several trips to London since he came to power in 2015 and was re-elected for another four-year term in 2019.
Although the nature of his ailment has never been made public, Buhari confessed in one of the trips that he had "never been so ill" and that he had received several blood transfusions.
In his latest visit to the British capital on Tuesday, the presidency said the retired general, who was military ruler in the 1980s, would be away for two weeks.
"He is due back in the country during the second week of April," his office said in a statement.
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned the trip, saying it was an indication that Nigeria's healthcare system had failed.
"It is indeed worrisome that under President Buhari, even the hitherto highly rated State House Clinic, has become so moribund that it cannot provide a simple medical checkup service for Mr. President," the PDP said in a statement.
The party said Buhari's frequent trips were a drain on the treasury.
"The PDP is disturbed that while Mr. President jets out for medical treatment in well-equipped hospitals abroad, our hospitals and medical personnel are in very sorry situation while millions of our compatriots suffer," it said.
Both local and social media were also full of outraged remarks by Nigerians over the trip.
The latest London visit came just hours before a threatened strike by doctors in government hospitals over pay and inadequate facilities.
Buhari's health became a subject of debate ahead of the last election when the opposition claimed he was not physically fit to govern -- but Buhari won a second term.
The president's state of health became a sensitive subject in Nigeria after former leader Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, died in 2010 and it emerged that his ailment had been kept secret for months.

President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan has said that for Nigeria to provide ‘herd immunity’ for its over two hundred million population, efforts must be made by the Federal Government to collaborate with international bodies to develop and produce a vaccine.
According to him, the project to develop a vaccine must deploy resources specifically meant to provide the needed environment for Nigerian scientists resident abroad to come up with a vaccine that would serve not only Nigeria’s population but that of other developing countries. Speaking in Abuja during the Public Presentation of a Research Work on the Legislative Efforts and Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic by the Young Parliamentarians Forum in collaboration with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Lawan recalled the efforts by the National Assembly and State Assemblies in coming up with legislative interventions such as the economic stimulus package to help cushion the effect of the lockdown caused by the pandemic. The President of the Senate who noted that such legislative interventions have subsequently extended to long-term legislative proposals that would address the inadequate number of health facilities across the country, said, “The legislature was also forthcoming in supporting the executive arm, in formulating policies to cushion the effect of the contagion, particularly because of lockdowns, and the attendant adverse effect on personal and public incomes.
“Talking of public incomes, we know what the National Assembly did, particularly to support the Executive arm of government in passing the economic stimulus package, which we graciously did and, I’m sure the legislatures at the state level did the same in their states. “The relief package was essential to support the vulnerable in our country – those at the lower ladder of our economic pyramid. “The Research work that is being presented today is obviously a study of the multiple dimensions of legislative interventions, consistent with the role of the institution as a coordinate arm of government. “The work deserves commendation for not just documenting the legislative actions and responses to the pandemic, but for preparing us for projections on what to do, faced with a similar crisis next time. “I’ll consider that to be the short-term support because this pandemic has revealed so many things, and some of these challenges cannot be addressed immediately. Take, for example, the revelation that our health facilities are so inadequate, and even those that are available are in a deplorable state. “It will require some time for the National Assembly and, indeed, the government to provide for what will be ‘adequate’ health facilities across the country. And, in fact, that means it will be a long-term goal of legislative intervention, but we are determined to go ahead and do that.” On how to successfully vaccinate Nigeria’s over two hundred million population in record time, the President of the Senate called on the Federal Government to explore the option of collaborating with international bodies and Nigerian scientists abroad for the development of its own vaccine. Lawan who bemoaned the difficulty posed by the refusal of the European Union and countries such as the United States of America and India to sell vaccines to developing countries said that Nigeria has the Human Resources to mass-produce the number of vaccines needed to achieve ‘herd immunity’ for the country’s population and that of other developing countries in need of the vaccine. He said: “Let’s also for example consider the vaccine production that today is becoming a necessity for almost every country. “Today, the United States of America (USA) is trying to ensure that no vaccine leaves its shores until it is able to vaccinate its citizens to provide herd immunity. “The European Union is doing the same thing, India which produces quite a lot of vaccines with over one billion population is also controlling and stopping exports. Where does that leave us? “Nigeria has the capacity in terms of the Human Resources to some extent, even though we have lost many of our good ones to the developed world. But some of them are still patriotic, they still want us to have our own vaccine developed. “This means we have to provide resources for setting up the environment for our scientists to collaborate with international agencies as well as citizens who are now either holding dual citizenships in other countries or are simply our citizens who have gone to other countries for greener pastures for us to have our own vaccines.

The spring break chaos in Miami Beach and the resurgence in Covid-19 cases is leading many to wag their fingers at college students who flooded relatively open Florida and likely brought Covid-19 with them. Instead, we should be wagging our fingers at policymakers.
First, we should admonish them for not having had the foresight to recognize that young people fed up with social distancing and public health restrictions for more than a year might decide to let loose. Second, they have erred by not having placed college students higher on the vaccination distribution list. It is time to rethink that policy, and fast.
This may seem like an equity problem: Why should state and federal policies privilege the young, healthy and occasionally reckless? Indeed, compared with 18- to 29-year-olds, the rate of hospitalizations for the 40- to 49-year-old population is at least twice as high, and the rate of death is at least eight times higher. Why not give priority to older people who are more likely to get seriously ill?
Such well-meaning equity concerns assume, however, that the young party animals we see in news video from the Sunshine State represent the college-going population. Real college students are much more diverse. For starters, only 56 percent of college students are under age 24. About a third are ages 24 to 39, and 1 in 9 are over age 40.
Moreover, the broader principle in administering vaccine shots equitably is to diminish the risk for those who are most at danger to spread the virus. Vaccinating college students is an effective way to lower that danger, for two major reasons: College students are mobile and spread Covid-19 with them whenever they travel, and they live in congregate living facilities where infection rates are much higher than in other housing setups.
These realities pose a threat to the wider population, with its older and more at-risk groups. The students who went on spring break trips last year often contracted the disease and spread it across the country.
And spring break travel isn't the only type of student movement. Bringing students back to college towns for the reopening of campuses last fall was responsible for thousands of additional Covid-19 cases across the country. In Wisconsin, researchers found that the same strain of Covid-19 that infected college students also infected people in a nursing home. It's estimated that 100 deaths per day in late summer and early fall — nearly all in the 70-plus-age population — were directly related to colleges reopening.
Even when they stay put, college students lead lives that make them risks to one another and the broader community. They often live in congregate facilities like dormitories and fraternity and sorority houses, which are higher-risk environments, just as nursing homes and correctional facilities are. Early work from the University of Colorado shows that roommates from whom students contracted Covid-19 had 6.5 times the viral load of other people.
Colleges can do only so much to reduce transmission. The best tools are to shut down travel, enforce mask-wearing protocols and build out high-quality testing regimes that identify infected students. Around 60 percent of colleges and universities canceled or modified spring break this year to limit student travel, and the University of California, Davis, even paid students $75 to stay on campus, but that did only so much.

The first young children in the pediatric trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have received their initial shots, company officials announced Thursday.
The global study of 144 participants will also examine whether the vaccine can generate an immune response in children and determine the proper dosage for each age group in the trial: 6 months to 2 years; 2 years to 5 years; and 5 years to 11 years.
The trial, along with similar studies that Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and others are conducting, aims to guide how the shots should be administered to young children, who are not thought to be the most vulnerable to Covid-19 but can be infected and spread the virus.
During the trial's first phase, three different dosages of the vaccine — 10 micrograms, 20 micrograms and 30 micrograms — will be tested in each age group, beginning with the oldest, the company said. In people ages 16 and older, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is given in two doses of 30 micrograms spaced three weeks apart.
The findings from Phase 1 will determine the dosage level used for later stages of the trial.
In Phases 2 and 3, Pfizer will study whether the vaccine can induce an immune response, how well the shots are tolerated in each age group and monitor for side effects and other safety issues. The later stages of the pediatric trial will expand to include approximately 4,500 children in the United States and Europe, according to Pfizer. Trial participants will be randomly selected to receive either the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or a harmless placebo.
Company officials said the trial participants will be monitored for six months after vaccination.
During their original Phase 3 vaccine trial, Pfizer and BioNTech enrolled 2,259 children ages 12 to 15 years old. The companies are expected to release findings from that study soon.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has expressed concern over the rising cases of deaths in the country as a result of tuberculosis disease.
NGF Chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi, in a message to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis Day, said Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest burden of TB, ranking first in Africa and sixth globally.
Fayemi stated that though the disease is preventable and curable, it has remained the deadliest infectious disease globally, noting that “about 18 Nigerians die of TB everyday which translates to 432 people monthly and 157,000 yearly.”
The governor noted that over the last decade, government and partners have implemented various interventions to ensure that people with TB are found and treated but regretted that the advent of Covid-19 pandemic and its control measures in 2020 further impacted on the health system including TB services, setting back progress made.
He, however, said: “Despite this setback, the government in partnership with other stakeholders are working to address these challenges by strengthening the capacity of state TB Programme to be more effective in its role, as well as support revitalisation and upgrading of health facilities to provide appropriate TB services especially diagnosis.”
Tuberculosis is a challenge for Nigeria, especially in this special time period. We are facing huge challenges. The government has been strengthening cooperation to strive for early control and mitigation.

The Federal Government on Monday in Abuja condemned racketeering of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in some of the designated vaccination centres.
Abdullazzi Abdullahi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, spoke at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
Abdullahi said selling vaccination slots was unnecessary because it has been scheduled in phases such that frontline health workers and others at higher risk are vaccinated first after registration at the portal.
“Everyone will be vaccinated free and everyone will eventually be vaccinated. There is no need to pay to be vaccinated.”
Abdullahi said testing rates will be sustained to ensure that positive cases are identified, isolated and treated.
He explained that this was necessary to avoid a third wave which some countries are presently experiencing.
“We are sustaining distribution of available commodities, PPEs and consumables to ensure availability at all times for end users at treatment centres”, the PS added.

The U.S. has administered more than 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but the vast majority of those jabs are going to adults. Moderna announced Tuesday that it has begun enrolling children from 6 months to less than 12 years old into a trial of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Having the young vaccinated would bring the country "another step closer to actually achieving herd immunity and protecting everybody," says Dr. Steve Plimpton, an OB-GYN in Arizona who is the principal investigator for the Moderna children's trial in Phoenix.
Pfizer's vaccine currently is authorized for people as young as 16, and the company is testing its vaccine on 12- to 15-years-olds. The vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson currently are for people 18 and up.
In an interview with Morning Edition, Plimpton says parents have been eager to sign up their children for the Moderna trials, which will include 6,750 children in the U.S. and Canada.
"The response from the parents has been overwhelming," he says. "They're calling literally all day long, asking for when they can get their kids vaccinated."
The protection of children is extremely important in this round of epidemic prevention and control. All countries in the world should protect children as key groups, and children must be vaccinated with safe and effective vaccines.

Since the onset of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic about one year ago, Nigeria’s monetary and fiscal authorities have been churning out a potpourri of policies to deal with the dreaded pestilence and its impact, just like all other nations of the world. Unsurprisingly, some of the policy measures have been ill-digested, experimental, and hasty; again, just like in many other climes.
Yet, certain obvious peculiarities of Nigeria usually make its own challenges more telling and lingering. By default or outright mismanagement of resources, Nigeria has remained a mono-product economy, largely import-dependent and perpetually vulnerable to the vagaries and vicissitudes of crude oil market and its politics in the global arena. Economy diversification has remained a mere mantra or sing-song of successive governments in the country. Now we’re talking about effective diversification; that is, sectors of the economy other than crude oil and gas operating in ways that the export of their products substantially improve foreign exchange inflow into the Nigerian economy. It means having a ‘portfolio’ of exports that do not just augment inflow from oil sales but readily can sustain the economy even without oil.
At present, there is no effective diversification; and so, the health of the Nigerian economy still precariously hangs on oil price movement. So, with the crash of the price of crude oil owing to the virtual shutdown of the global economy ravaged by COVID-19, by second quarter 2020, Nigeria’s foreign exchange (forex) inflow almost dried up. Again, unsurprisingly, due to the economy shutdowns and collapse of supply chains, Nigeria and most countries of the world went into deep recession by the third quarter 2020.
The concomitants of this have been high and rising inflation rate (standing at over 16 per cent by February 2021, from about 11 percent a year ago); collapsed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate that is practically at zero level; sharply dwindling forex reserves as well as deteriorating exchange rate of the Naira against major currencies across the globe. Indeed, the monetary authorities had to ‘unofficially’ devalue the Naira twice in 2020; and within this first quarter 2021, the official exchange rate has been put at around #410/$1. Even at this rate the pressure on the local currency has been enormous and persistent, such that at the ‘parallel’ and ‘black’ markets, the exchange rate is fast inching towards #500/$1: meaning that, with one thousand Naira, you can at best, get only two US dollar!
Apparently alarmed at this pace of loss in value of the local currency vis-a-vis the dollar and others, the Central Bank of Nigeria late last year came up with a policy to encourage forex remittances to Nigeria from the Diaspora. The policy allows the beneficiaries of remittances the choice to be paid in dollar or the Naira equivalent (at the point of collection). For some reasons, the expected upsurge in forex inflow via remittances, courtesy of the new policy was not happening. Rather, the pressure on the local currency kept heightening, even, when, owing to the obviously unexpected rise in crude oil price since the dawn of 2021and forex inflow therefrom, some accretion to the external reserves was recorded.

World Kidney Day was commemorated on March 11 to raise awareness on the need for identifying kidney disease as a significant public health problem.
Countries around the globe have commenced vaccination of their citizens against the COVID-19 virus which has infected over 120 million people globally.
Meanwhile, there are growing safety concerns about the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, which is important especially to the COVAX arrangement, the UN-backed facility that promises access to vaccines for up to 20 per cent of participating countries' population.
About four European countries have suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines citing blood clotting difficulties and a death suspected to be from its usage.
Nigeria took delivery of 3.94 million doses of the vaccines in early March and has since begun administration to prioritised groups.
The Nigerian government, however, said it will not discontinue its use.
Amidst the pandemic, World Kidney Day was commemorated on March 11 to raise awareness on the need for identifying kidney disease as a significant public health problem.
Here is a round-up of some of the health stories which made headlines last week.
Nigeria records 205 new COVID-19 cases, four more deaths
In continuation of a steady run of low figures that began almost three weeks ago, Nigeria on Saturday recorded 205 new COVID-19 infections in 15 states, according to health authorities.
The new figure, one of the lowest since the beginning of this year, raised the total number of infections in the country to 160,537.
This is according to an update published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Saturday night.
World Kidney Day: 10 signs you could be having Kidney disease
Kidney disease, like many other diseases, is treatable if detected early.
Kidney disease refers to the injury or damage to the kidneys that has usually been on for a long time.
The World Kidney Day is observed on the second Thursday of March each year with the primary objective of spreading awareness around the globe on the need for identifying kidney disease as a significant public health problem.
Another country halts rollout of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines
Another country has suspended the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine adding to a growing concern about the vaccine Nigeria received almost four million doses of last Tuesday.
Authorities in Austria on Tuesday said vaccination with the Oxford vaccines in the country was halted as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after taking the shots, according to Reuters.
Kidney Disease: Late detection, high cost hinder treatment for affected Nigerians
After undergoing dialysis on Thursday at the Garki general hospital in Abuja, Dannuma Tadi, a retired army officer, said he was already thinking of where to get money for the next one.
The cost of each dialysis session is N23,000 at the hospital and Mr Tadi needs at least two treatments each week to keep his system filtered and running.
For many years, doctors were busy treating Mr Tadi for high blood pressure and diabetes without recommending a kidney test for him. This allowed his kidney disease to get to an advanced stage, he said.
HIV treatment still expensive for many Nigerians - Report
About 11.2 per cent of People Living With HIV (PLWHIV) in Nigeria still incur huge out-of-pocket costs for treatment, a new report has shown.
The report titled "Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) initiative on COVID-19 and HIV in Nigeria" shows that 212,800 PLWHIV in the country make significant out of pocket expenses to access treatment.
The report indicates that distance of treatment centres and out of pocket expenses are major barriers to HIV service accessibility.
Nigeria can achieve universal health coverage by 2030, says NHIS boss
Despite recent challenges towards enrollment of 90 per cent of Nigerians into one form of health insurance or another, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is optimistic that if all factors of implementation work according to details set out in its ten-year strategic plan, it will leapfrog the country into Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by the year 2030.
The Executive Secretary of NHIS, Mohammed Sambo, expressed this optimism in Kaduna, at a two-day management retreat to adopt the ten-year strategic plan document, adding that careful implementation of the roadmap would ultimately bring the country at par with other nations where out-of-pocket expenditure for health had been eliminated.
Nigeria moves to douse anxieties over AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine
Nigeria's health authorities Thursday evening through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) moved quickly to douse growing anxiety around the suspension of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, produced in partnership with Oxford.
Early Thursday, four European countries citing blood clotting difficulties and a death suspected to be from the usage of the vaccine, suspended its use.
World Sleep Day: Ten things to do to achieve healthy sleep
The World Sleep Day (WSD) is commemorated on March 11-13 every year to raise awareness about the importance of healthy sleep.
Created and hosted by the World Sleep Society, WSD is dedicated to spreading awareness about all aspects of sleep including the importance of getting good sleep, sleep medicines and social aspects of sleep problems.
With several concerns about the implication of lack of good sleep, the American Psychological Association highlights the following steps as helpful in changing unhealthy habits and improving your sleep.
NAFDAC Destroys N1.4bn Counterfeit, Expired Products
The National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday destroyed substandard, falsified and expired products in the South East and South South geopolitical zones.
The products, worth N1.4 billion, were destroyed at the Anambra Waste Dump in Awka.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, who supervised the exercise, said the destruction was part of the efforts to rid Nigerian market of unwholesome products and engender public confidence.
Health experts call for inclusion of family planning, cancer treatment in Nigeria's NHIS
The inclusion of family planning and cancer treatment into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was the topic of discussion when some health experts gathered in Abuja on Wednesday.
"The first rationale for family planning is in the interest of the mother and the child to reduce mortality," the President of the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Oladapo Ladipo, said at the two-day strategic advocacy retreat.
Nigeria distributes COVID-19 vaccines to states
The Nigerian government on Monday said it has started distributing the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to various states across the country.
The Executive Director of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, made this known at the weekly briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.

DIMONDALE, Mich. – The Michigan National Guard administered the final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to Michigan State Police employees at department headquarters on March 4.
“We have a lot of contact with the public,” said 1st Lt. Jay Poupard, operations section commander, Michigan State Police. “We want to ensure our employees, who choose to receive the vaccine to help keep them safe, have that opportunity. It’s important for us to display to the public that we’re willing to get this vaccination so that others can have confidence in it, too.”
While the vaccine provides an extra layer of safety, MSP employees are still required to perform the same COVID-19 safety measures they have been taking for the past year, such as wearing a mask and frequently washing their hands.
“Our agency’s primary concern is always public safety, and this public safety threat is just a different type of threat,” said Poupard. “Ultimately, it’s the safety of our citizens that is our primary focus regardless of what the threat is.”
Part of the response the MSP has been performing during the pandemic is to assist the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan National Guard during mass testing and vaccination events. The three departments are strengthening their ties, helping communities through this crisis.
“I knew I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines anymore and I had to do something,” said Michigan Army National Guard Capt. Daniel Sackmann, the officer in charge of the Michigan State Police vaccination clinics. “I had to volunteer for this mission. I had to do something for my community.”
Sackmann, who is part of COVID-19 Vaccination Testing Team (CVTT) Task Force Spartan, is making lasting connections and helping those who serve and protect communities.
“I like it a lot because I get to give back to the people that are always protecting,” said Sackmann. “We get to protect them for once – that’s why I love doing this mission here.”
While the MSP clinics are some of Sackmann’s favorites, he has enjoyed traveling the state helping out wherever the missions lead him. His first mission was at a long-term care facility where some nurses and patients cried after receiving their initial vaccine. It was the first time in nearly a year that patients left their rooms.
He said it was a phenomenal experience when he returned to administer the second dose.
“I think the phrase for this is, ‘A mission of hope,’ and we’re giving hope in a world full of darkness,” said Sackmann. “Everything is so negative right now, but out here, we’re making a difference to save lives, and I think that’s what the world needs to hear.”

As parts of efforts to tackle low COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, head of KICC has inaugurated a Vaccination and Immunisation Committee as an independent expert advisory group to spearhead community efforts in encouraging the BAME community to take the vaccine.
A press statement by the church said Pastor Ashimolowo was saddened by a report released by the Royal College of GP’s, which reportedly claimed that vaccine uptake was extremely low within the BAME community at just about 2% compared to the total vaccinated population.
While reiterating the fact that the church has not endorsed any particular medication or vaccine, the statement emphasized that it was only concerned about dispelling the myths about the vaccine.
According to the statement, “the Committee comprised of medical experts and specialists on the matter from within the KICC global church community. As a Global Ministry we believe in providing our members, and those who follow our ministry, with accurate and balanced information that will help inform their decisions on critical life matters such as vaccinations.
“We firmly believe that vaccination may be the single most important health-promoting initiative available to mankind. We believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives. And we also believe that each person should make an informed decision, rather than an emotional one based on myth.
It stated further, “We are not endorsing a particular medication or vaccine, but we are attempting to dispel the myths and establish the facts. The Church has an obligation to empower its local and wider community with the knowledge that is requisite to make informed decisions. More importantly as people of faith, we live our lives based on the timeless truth and wisdom of God’s Word and hope that we will allow the Spirit of God to lead and direct in this matter, as in every other area of our lives”.
In addition, the church also outlines ten reasons why the people should not reject COVID-19 vaccines. One of such reasons, according to the statement is that evidence abounds to show that people of BAME background are at a higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19, and as such taking the vaccine will help reduce this risk.
The statement revealed further that “COVID-19 is a serious and life-threatening disease, saying it is over 500 times deadlier than Influenza (flu) and at its peak COVID-19 caused more than twice the number of deaths from all cancers in the UK.
“COVID-19 can have serious long term consequences such as chronic lung problems and heart diseases.
“COVID-19 vaccination reduces your risks of severe infection and the need for admission to Intensive Care Unit.
“Evidence is becoming available that vaccination will prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
“COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective. It has the approval of UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA),” the statement read in part.

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has said it cannot make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for 2021 intending pilgrims. 
The Commission’s Chairman, Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan, revealed this during an interactive session to mark the Fourth Board of NAHCON’s one year in office in Abuja. 
He, however, said the Commission was working with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to ensure all intending pilgrims were vaccinated if the Saudi Arabian authorities made it a condition for participation.
He expressed hope 2021 hajj would take place with the recent procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. 
“If the Saudi government insists that vaccine is a condition for participation and any prospective pilgrim says he or she will not take the vaccine, we will simply ask the person to go back and re-apply when the Saudi government changes its decision. But, we cannot compel anybody to take the vaccine,” he said.
Hassan said many Nigerians were already keying into the hajj savings scheme, adding that with the savings scheme, 60 per cent of hajj operations’ challenges would be solved. 
He noted the Commission was prioritising training its staff to boost their productivity and also launched a digital transformation master plan, which would increase efficiency in service delivery to Nigerian pilgrims.

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.

On Tuesday, Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. It is the first shipment for the over 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility, aimed at vaccinating 20% of the population.
Nigeria is expected to receive an additional 42 million doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, but details on the timeline of shipments are not yet clear.
According to government officials, the received doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are undergoing final assessment by Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. While awaiting the conclusion of the review, health workers across the country will receive training on the vaccination exercise.
The first doses will be administered at a treatment center of National Hospital Abuja on Friday, and the nationwide vaccine rollout is set to commence March 12.
In a press statement, Thabani Maphosa, managing director for country programs at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said, “Nigeria is amongst the first receiving the doses from COVAX, thanks to the excellent level of preparedness put in place by the Government of Nigeria.”
Despite this vote of confidence, public health experts and citizens in the country are worried that sparing, conflicting, and sometimes confusing information on the vaccine deployment will hinder the process.
Confusion over rollout
According to Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant to the Nigerian president on digital and new media, Nigeria’s vaccine doses will be rolled out in four phases. The first recipients will be front-line health workers and strategic leadership, followed by individuals ages 50 years and above. The third phase will cover individuals ages 18 to 49 with relevant medical conditions, while the last group will be the remaining eligible population, which is made up of individuals ages 18 to 49 without relevant medical conditions.
While the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has been in charge of Nigeria’s coronavirus response in the areas of testing, communication, and surveillance, the task of coordinating vaccination rests squarely on the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
Following the announcement late Sunday evening that the COVID-19 vaccine would arrive Tuesday, NPHCDA on Monday shared a link to a website where citizens are expected to book their vaccination appointments.
Despite the outlined phases, Devex found that there are no restrictions around the vaccination dates available to different population groups or around who is able to register. The registration process also does not provide any means for the government to verify those claiming to be front-line workers.
Samuel Eleko, a 46-year-old university lecturer who has used the platform, described the open registration process as potentially disenfranchising those who should be prioritized and ensuring the phased approach fails. He noted that young people are more likely to register online than older adults, who have been identified as a priority population.
“By registering online, you [the Nigerian government] will distribute the few [vaccines] you get to the less vulnerable group, and the problem will just begin from there. When other countries would say bye to COVID, Nigeria will be looking for help,” Eleko said.
In addition, a week before the vaccination exercise’s expected initiation, officials at some centers listed on the website said they were not aware of their locations serving that purpose.
Monatan Primary Health Center in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria, is included among the vaccination sites on the government’s website. But when Devex visited the center late Monday, officials on duty said they were not aware of any COVID-19 vaccination plans at the location.
“Nobody has told us anything, but we will not be surprised if they bring it [the vaccine] tomorrow and ask us to start giving people that same day,” said an official who asked to remain anonymous.
Unfulfilled promises
Prior to Tuesday’s delivery, NPHCDA’s messaging on the country’s vaccine plans had largely been characterized by unfulfilled promises.
On Feb. 8, it issued a statement saying the country would receive 16 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the month of February. However, the month ended with no delivery.
While commending Nigeria’s epidemiologic response to COVID-19, Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor, CEO at Nigeria-based health consultancy EpiAFRIC, said the details surrounding vaccinations had been characterized by uncertainty and urged the government to be more open.
“I think part of the responsibility of the government is also for the minister [of health] and the head of the NPHCDA to be open with Nigerians,” Nsofor said. “If they're having challenges securing the vaccines, in bringing them in, they should let us know.”
For over one month, Devex reached out to the team at NPHCDA, requesting specific details on the country’s COVID-19 vaccination plans. These were not provided, and an official at the agency told Devex that the requested information did not exist.
This is in sharp contrast to Ghana, where vaccinations have already begun. Speaking at a press conference, Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Ghana’s director of public health, said the country had finalized its national COVID-19 vaccination plan and secured indemnity legislation from the Justice Ministry by mid-December. The government had also publicized the regions where its first 600,000 doses would be allocated.
Cautiously optimistic
Despite the challenges, Jafiya Abubakar, head of epidemiology at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said that Nigeria’s vast experience in initiating and coordinating extensive vaccination efforts will result in a successful campaign.
“Thanks to the experience the country has had with previous vaccination efforts, the structure and network are there and will come in handy for the COVID-19 vaccination exercise,” he said.
But other public health experts are setting targets cautiously. Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, the World Health Organization’s representative to Nigeria, warned that effective measures currently utilized in the pandemic should not be abandoned yet.
“Vaccines are a critical tool in the battle against COVID-19. In the meantime, Nigerians must continue to take steps to contain the virus, as the vaccination program will take at least a year before it is fully effective,” he said.
Considering the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations, Nsofor added, it may be almost impossible for Nigeria and the entire African continent to stop the health crisis and achieve herd immunity before 2024.
“It will not end this year. I don't see African countries as a whole achieving herd immunity before 2023-2024 — let’s be honest about it,” he said.

New York, one of the first states in the U.S. to implement travel restrictions on domestic visitors last spring, took another step toward relaxing its COVID-19 policies Wednesday by lifting the quarantine and COVID-19 testing restrictions on people who have been vaccinated within 90 days of their second inoculation.
"Domestic travelers are no longer required to quarantine or test out within 90 days of full vaccination," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a COVID-19 briefing.
Beyond the 90 days, travelers would still have to quarantine and test out.
International travelers must continue to quarantine for 10 days, he said. People who have not been vaccinated or who have not completed their shots must also continue to quarantine under the existing guidelines. 
People arriving in the U.S. from overseas by air must also present a negative coronavirus test taken within three days of travel, a rule introduced shortly after President Biden took office in January.
Up until Wednesday, travelers who left New York or neighboring states for more than 24 hours were required to present a negative test taken within three days of arrival and quarantine for three days. Travelers could then test out on Day 4 by testing negative a second time. 
It's unclear whether vaccinated travelers will be able to skip filling out the required contact-tracing form upon arrival in New York, which asks for the names of people traveling with them, phone numbers and email addresses where they can be contacted and to list any high-risk countries or states they've recently been to.
The travel restriction update came the same day the state announced it would relax limits on private gatherings as well as capacity at smaller entertainment and sports venues.

One day after federal regulators authorized Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, senior Biden administration officials warned Sunday that the supply of the new vaccine would be highly uneven for the next month.
In an effort to lower expectations that the authorization of a third Covid vaccine will mean a steady new stream of doses, the officials said that the company will deliver 3.9 million shots this week but none the week after. The officials were speaking in an organized briefing with reporters but refused to be quoted by name.
Johnson & Johnson will deliver another 16 million doses to the federal government by the end of March, but the majority of that will only come toward the end of the month, the officials said.
In a $1 billion contract signed last year, Johnson & Johnson pledged to deliver 37 million doses by the end of March and a total of 100 million by the end of June. But the firm is still trying to scale up its production at its new Baltimore plant.
The initial 3.9 million doses were manufactured at its factory in the Netherlands; officials have said the rest of the doses were expected to come from its Baltimore plant.
Earlier Sunday, a committee of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted as expected to recommend distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to all adults in the United States.
The committee’s approval echoed the Food and Drug Administration’s decision Saturday evening. Johnson & Johnson’s is the third Covid-19 vaccine to be authorized for Americans in less than a year. The first shipments are expected to reach states by Tuesday.
The committee did not weigh in on whether states should prioritize the one-shot vaccine for any particular population groups, or how they should deploy it compared with the other two authorized vaccines.
“That is not a decision that we’re ready to make,” said Dr. José Romero, Arkansas’s top health official and the committee’s chair.
The panel voted 12 in favor of the vaccine and none against, with one recusal.
The committee acted with little debate following presentations showing the vaccine was 85 percent protective against severe Covid-19 disease across all clinical trial sites and provided complete protection against hospitalizations and deaths.
Late Sunday, Rochelle P. Walensky, the C.D.C. director, signed the committee’s recommendation, calling the new vaccine “another milestone toward an end to the pandemic.”
Experts pointed out that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be simpler to distribute than the other two vaccines, which are made by Moderna and Pfizer with its German partner BioNTech. It requires just one shot instead of two and can be stored in standard refrigerators instead of freezers. Health professionals have noted that it could be particularly well suited to remote areas and clinics as well as drive-through mass vaccination sites.
The committee weighed those advantages against the shot’s somewhat lower efficacy rate in clinical trials. Pfizer and Moderna’s shots each were shown to be about 95 percent protective against symptomatic Covid disease, whereas Johnson & Johnson’s was 72 percent efficacious against moderate to severe disease in U.S. trial sites.
Direct comparisons between the vaccines are problematic, however, because the trials were conducted in different locations at different times. For instance, Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines were tested before troubling new variants of the virus emerged in Britain, South Africa and elsewhere.
The panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, reviewed one recent survey showing that, given a choice between a two-dose vaccine as effective as Pfizer’s or Moderna’s or a single-dose vaccine as effective as Johnson & Johnson’s, only 7 percent of respondents picked Johnson & Johnson’s. Twenty-one percent said they would take either.
Importantly, though, of the 58 percent of respondents who said they preferred a vaccine like Pfizer’s or Moderna’s, nearly half said they would take a vaccine like Johnson & Johnson’s rather than wait a month for one of the other two.
The committee met almost exactly one year after the first death associated with Covid-19 in the United States. The committee is expected to meet again on Monday and discuss all three vaccines, including how they might be best deployed among different population groups.

Mr Ehanire said this on Wednesday while addressing journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
The Federal Government had said last week that Nigeria would receive four million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine very soon.
But speaking of when they will be delivered, the health minister said; “that is not in our hands. It is the hand of the person who is bringing it to us”.
He also noted that about 70% of the population is expected to be inoculated within two years.
“We have been told to open an account with Afreximbank under the African Union; we have done that already successfully because we are going to pay for that part of the vaccine. The COVAX vaccine is free, at no cost to us, it is made from donations.
“We want to immunise about 60 to 70% of our population. If COVAX immunises 20, then we have about 40 to 50 to immunise within the next two years. So, we have to pay for that minus any donations that we get like the MTN donation, for example, all those ones reduce the quantities that we have to purchase or any other that in future are given to us free of charge.
“Now, the COVAX will start delivering to African countries before the end of February; that’s what they told us.
“But they didn’t tell us which country is first or which is second, which is third. So, COVAX begins to deliver before the end of February. And we hope that before the end of this month, it would be our turn or latest by beginning of next month.”
The minister’s comments come on the same day that Ghana became the first country to receive vaccines from Covax, a global scheme to procure and distribute Covid inoculations for free for poorer countries.
The 600,000 doses delivered to Ghana were the Oxford/AstraZeneca formula, made under license by the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India.
As of December 2020, the minister had said that Nigerians should expect to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of January 2021.
The Governor of Ekiti State and the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Kayode Fayemi, had also said the country is expected to procure a total of 140 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the next two years.

In an unprecedented development, Ghana has received a historic first shipment of 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility, ahead of Nigeria.
Ghana is the first country to receive the COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility, an arrangement by the World Health Organisation, Gavi, the Vaccine Initiative and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to provide vaccines for low and middle-income countries.
A joint statement by the UNICEF representative in Ghana, Anne-Claire Dufay, and the World Health Organisation, WHO, representative to Ghana, Dr. Francis Kasolo, said the vaccines arrived Accra to kickstart the country’s vaccination process. The statement read: “After a year of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 80,700 Ghanaians getting infected with the virus and over 580 lost lives, the path to recovery for the people of Ghana can finally begin.
“This is a momentous occasion, as the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines into Ghana is critical in bringing the pandemic to an end. The only way out of this crisis is to ensure that vaccinations are available for all.
“We thank all partners that are supporting the COVAX facility to deliver safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to all countries quickly and fairly.
“These 600,000 COVAX vaccines are part of an initial tranche of deliveries of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine licensed to the Serum Institute of India, which represent part of the first wave of COVID vaccines headed to several low and middle-income countries.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday that his country is doing better than the United States in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, even though Mexico’s per capita death rate is probably higher and the country has vaccinated less than one percent of its population.
López Obrador said Tuesday that comparing countries is in “bad taste,” but went on to say “the most powerful nation on Earth, our neighbor, did worse than us.”
The Mexican government’s “estimated” death toll from COVID-19 is now about 201,000. The United States death toll is around 500,000, but its population is 2.6 times larger.
Moreover, estimates of excess deaths in Mexico since the start of the pandemic suggest the COVID-19 toll is now well above 220,000. Mexico has administered about 1.7 million vaccine doses, while the U.S. has given 64 million shots.
López Obrador blamed rich countries for “hoarding” vaccines, calling that “totally unfair,” and said “the U.N. has to intervene.”
The Mexican leader invited Argentine President Alberto Fernández onstage at his daily morning press conference Tuesday, where the Argentine leader proposed that vaccine companies be forced to cede intellectual property rights and allow anyone to manufacture their shots.
“The idea is to propose at the G20 the need to declare COVID-19 vaccines as ‘global goods,’ so that they cede their intellectual property rights and all countries can freely produce them,” Fernández said.
Mexico is trying to beef up its supply of Pfizer vaccines with Russian and Chinese shots, and late Monday the country received its first shipment of 200,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines.
Mexico has had over 2 million test-confirmed coronavirus cases, but the low level of testing means the real number is probably several times that amount.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

There is new hope that the global vaccine drive will speed up. Women leaving the work force because of the pandemic have led to a “national emergency,” Vice President Kamala Harris said.Just as vaccine distribution was beginning to gather steam in the United States, brutal winter weather is delaying the delivery of hundreds of thousands of doses across the country.
Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projected “widespread delays” in vaccine shipments and deliveries because of weather affecting a FedEx facility in Memphis and a UPS facility in Louisville, both vaccine shipping hubs. Now those projections appear to be coming true.
Shipment delays have been reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, Washington and Oregon, among other states, forcing vaccine sites to temporarily shutter and coveted appointments to be rescheduled.
In Texas, where millions of residents lost power during this week’s powerful storm, a delivery of more than 400,000 first doses and 330,000 second doses was delayed in anticipation of the bad weather. A portion of those shots, roughly 35,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, were sent to North Texas providers on Wednesday, but shipments will continue to depend on safety conditions.
Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said Thursday that the state was “asking providers that aren’t able to store vaccine due to power outages to transfer it elsewhere or administer it so it doesn’t spoil.”
On Monday, health officials in Texas scrambled to get more than 5,000 shots into arms after a power outage in a storage facility where they were being kept. But Mr. Van Deusen said that “reports of vaccine spoiling have been minimal.”
The Houston Health Department said Thursday it would restart vaccinations for second doses this weekend, and schedule additional first and second dose appointments next week.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said more than 2,000 vaccine sites are in areas with power outages.
Most of the vaccines for New York State, scheduled for delivery between Feb. 12 and Feb. 21, have been delayed as well, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Thursday night.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference earlier in the day that “a vast majority of the resupply” the city was expecting for this week had not yet shipped from the factories.
The city has had to hold off on scheduling upward of 35,000 appointments for first vaccine doses because of shipment delays and vaccine shortages. The opening of two new distribution sites was also postponed.
In Los Angeles, the city said that appointments for about 12,500 will be delayed.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said that while 136,000 Pfizer doses had arrived this week, the state had still not received its shipment for the week of 200,000 Moderna doses. He said the shipment could be delayed as late as Monday.
“Because the storms we are seeing in the rest of the country, it’s basically sitting in the FedEx warehouse — and I don’t think they can even get into it because of everything,” Mr. DeSantis said at a news conference Thursday, encouraging those who had appointments rescheduled to “hang in there, the doses are going to get here.”
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, called the weather delay “significant.”
“Well, obviously it’s an issue,” he told MSNBC on Thursday. “It’s been slowed down in some places, going to a grinding halt.”
Dr. Fauci said, “We’re just going to have to make up for it as soon as the weather lifts a bit, the ice melts and we can get the trucks out and the people out. We’re going to just have to make up for it, namely do double time when this thing clears up.”
Jennifer Psaki, the White House press secretary, said that the Biden administration was working closely with manufacturing and shipping partners to assess weather conditions.
As of Thursday, the C.D.C. said about 41 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, including about 16.2 million people who have been fully vaccinated.

Discussions with regulators are close to reaching a conclusion and the policy is likely to be available before the end of the first half of this year, Allianz Nigeria CEO Adeolu Adewumi-Zer tells The Africa Report.
A risk barometer published by Allianz based on a survey of 193 Nigerian corporate respondents shows cyber incidents as the second-biggest perceived risk in 2021, second only to Covid-19. A year earlier, cyber incidents were only seen as the eighth-biggest risk.
Working at home due to Covid-19 has pushed cyber risk up corporate agendas, says Adewumi-Zer, who took over in September and is the first female CEO of Allianz Nigeria.
Many processes that were still manually performed in Nigeria have had to be digitalised in a hurry. The new policy will cover areas such as data loss and reputational risk as well as cyber crime, adds Adewumi-Zer. “This is not going away when Covid ends. The world has changed.”
Greater reliance on cloud computer servers that are accessed over the internet is one result of people having to work at home. A study of IT managers by Sophos in 2020 found that 86% of respondents in Nigeria had experienced public cloud security incidents in the previous year, putting it second only to India in the world. More Nigerian organisations had suffered from having public cloud data exposed than in any other country.
Insurance penetration
Adewumi-Zer points to low incomes and lack of trust as the factors holding back Nigeria’s insurance penetration, which lags behind most of Africa.
About 40% of the population lives on less than $2 a day, and only about a quarter of Nigeria’s population could afford to buy a basic insurance product, she says.
The development of trust in insurance is constrained by low levels of financial literacy and a culture of reliance on the family, adds Adewumi-Zer.
Compulsory insurance is one way to increase penetration, she says.
Third-party motor insurance is mandatory, yet some get around it by buying fake insurance certificates to show to the police, explains Adewumi-Zer. And some ultra low-cost policies may provide a paper document but little or no cover in case of an accident.
Improving the government’s car registration database to make it more complete would be a “key step” to better enforcement, she says.
Fire and personal liability insurance for property owners and tenants could also be made obligatory, she adds.
Allianz is also working on adapting an international health insurance policy to be sold in Nigeria. The policy is likely to be available at the end of this year or the start of 2022, she says.
Consolidation
The fragmentation of the Nigerian insurance industry is often seen as a barrier to penetration. Adewumi-Zer “hopes and expects” that the eventual prospect of higher capital requirements for insurers will lead to a process of industry consolidation. This would also reduce the need for domestic insurers to rely on international reinsurance capacity, she adds.

States are rolling back Covid-19 restrictions as new cases trend down from record highs across the country. But experts warn it might be too much too soon as variants pose an increased risk and the pandemic — almost at the one year mark in the U.S. — is far from over.
In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, lifted the state’s partial mask mandate on Friday. She also said businesses no longer have to limit the number of customers or enforce social distancing, and no limits remain on the size of public gatherings. The Des Moines Register's editorial board called the move “inexplicable and irresponsible.”
Reynolds isn’t acting alone. Democratic and Republican governors alike have been loosening restrictions. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced Monday that New York City will allow indoor dining beginning on Friday, a few days earlier than originally planned, and middle schools will reopen for in-person instruction on Feb 25. In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said restaurants are allowed to operate at 40 percent capacity as of Monday, citing a decline in hospitalizations as part of his reasoning.
The moves to eliminate virus-related restrictions come as the most-recent seven-day average for new cases in the U.S. is 119,509 for the past week, according to an NBC News analysis. The last time that figure was that low was Nov. 9, near the beginning of the latest surge. The current new case numbers still far surpass the spring and summer highs.
“I have some concern it’s premature” to loosen restrictions, said Dr. Justin Lessler, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Lessler said the very restrictions in place are what is allowing Covid-19 infection rates to decline.
“When we remove interventions, we frequently see resurgences,” he said, advising caution if states want to see continued decline. “When new variants come along, the stepping back that may have been OK before is not OK anymore because of the more transmissible variants.”
The CDC has reported fewer than 700 cases of the various strains of Covid-19 that have entered the country after first being identified in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil. Lessler said that number is “very much the tip of the iceberg” and hardly portrays the scope of their spread.
“The variants are here and circulating,” said Dr. Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone Health in New York.
While much remains unknown about how the variants will spread and affect the U.S., their presence is undeniable.
Lighter said the U.S. isn’t doing enough “surveillance protecting” or sequencing to test how many of the recent positive cases are coming from the new strains. Still, she said, the surge that some anticipated from more transmissible variants has yet to materialize.
Reversing a mask mandate, she said, makes no sense, but moves like Los Angeles County’s to reopen outdoor dining at the end of January are sensible when being outdoors decreases the risk associated with contracting the virus.
To stay ahead of the variants, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that it is crucial that people get both doses of the vaccine.
The boost from the second dose gives a "greater breadth of response," said Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, meaning it can protect against the "wild type" of coronavirus circulating, including the variants.

Q COSTA RICA TRAVEL – Since last January 26, the United States Government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires proof of negative COVID-19 test or recovery from COVID-19 for all air passengers arriving in the U.S.The negative result of not than 3 days before travel by air into the United States must be shown to the airline before boarding, or be prepared to show documentation of recovery (proof of a recent positive viral test and a letter from your healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).
The CDC measures apply to all passengers, age two and older, who travel by air to the United States, including citizens and legal residents of that country.
However, quarantine or isolation is only a measure recommended by the CDC, it is not mandatory.
The CDC, on its website, recommends after travel to:
Get tested 3-5 days after travel AND stay home and self-quarantine for 7 days after travel.
Even if you test negative, stay home and self-quarantine for the full 7 days.
If your test is positive, isolate yourself to protect others from getting infected.​​
​If you don’t get tested, it’s safest to stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.​
Avoid being around people who are at increased risk for severe illness for 14 days, whether you get tested or not.
“The US government does not oblige the passenger to quarantine; however, until the first days of February, the measure given by the CDC is only a recommendation. At Aeris we recommend that passengers stay informed of official news and always, in advance, verify what the entry and transit requirements are between the different States, as some may have their own regulations,” explained Erick Barboza, Commercial Director of Aeris, the operator of the San Juan Santamaria (San Jose) International airport.
For his part, Carlos Granados, president of the Asociación de Líneas Aéreas (ALA) Costa Rica, urged respect for those recommendations.
“We respect the measures and travel recommendations of the United States Government through the CDC, in which it is urged to abide by the sanitary protocols necessary for a pleasant trip, to reinforce the use of a mask both in airports and onboard the aircraft, as well as consult any additional recommendations that the city or state you visit may issue. Likewise, we recommend maintaining any communication channel with the airline,” he Granados.
Travel to Canada
Unlike the U.S., all persons – in including nationals and residents – entering Canada by air must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test taken within 72 hours before their scheduled departure time, take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival in Canada, stay in a hotel for 3 nights while they await the results of the COVID-19 molecular test they received on arrival, pay for their hotel, as well as all associated costs for food, cleaning and security.
Travelers who receive a negative test result, can go home to complete mandatgory quarantine; But if the test is positive, they will be taken to a government facility.
Passengers must submit their travel information electronically before boarding through the ArriveCAN app or website.  Click here for persons exempt from mandatory quarantine due to COVID-19.
And, Canadian airlines canceled flights to Canada from Central America, Caribbean and Mexico until April 30, 2021.

President Joe Biden said Friday his proposal to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is unlikely to make it into the final $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package after negotiations with Congress.
Biden, who advocated for a minimum wage increase before the pandemic began, has pitched the idea as an effective way to help working-class Americans cope with the economic consequences of the crisis.  
"No one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage. And if you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re living below the poverty wage," the president told CBS Evening News host Norah O’Donnell Friday. But he conceded that his plan to hike the federal minimum rate did not look likely to be a part of the new relief legislation. 
"I put it in, but I don't think it's going to survive," he said. 
Many Republicans opposed Biden’s attempt to raise the federal minimum wage and some Democrats also had concerns.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t support increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. However, Manchin, a moderate Democrat, said he supports a smaller increase.
"I’m supportive of an increase that’s responsible and reasonable," Manchin said, "and in my state that’s $11." Manchin added that the increased rate should account for inflation.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said she was concerned about raising the minimum wage during the pandemic.
"A $15 federal minimum wage would be devastating for our hardest-hit small businesses at a time when they can least afford it," Ernst said.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., echoed Ernst, tweeting Saturday that "Raising the minimum wage amid a pandemic is a tone-deaf idea authored by Washington elites." 
Scott co-sponsored Ernst's amendment Thursday night to prevent a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour during the pandemic.  
Despite the roadblocks Biden’s push to hike the wage has faced so far, he does have the support of progressive Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who indicated he had not given up on the possibility of including the wage increase in the relief package.

The Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has revealed that about 80 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will soon be made available in the country, to immunize 40% of the Nigerian population this year.
This is part of the measures aimed at curbing the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease, just as he said that another batch of 60 million doses is expected to be delivered in 2022.
According to a press statement by his press secretary, Olayinka Oyebode, this disclosure was made by Fayemi, while delivering a paper titled, ‘The role of Nigeria’s State Governments in Recovery: Responses to Covid-19 linked Challenges,” at the Chatham House, Africa Programme, moderated by Elizabeth Donnelly, Deputy Director and Research Fellow at Chatham House.While delivering the paper at the virtual conference held via Zoom, the Governor was quoted as saying that the quantity of the vaccines being expected was released by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), at the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) last week.
Fayemi said that beyond the government’s efforts at the procurement of vaccines, the NGF had been a strong advocate of the use of public-private partnerships in the procurement of vaccines as a measure of closing the gap between what is available and what is necessary, to achieve herd immunity.
Fayemi said that the country had conducted about 1.3 million tests so far, out of which 131,242 persons, or 10% of the samples, tested positive to the virus with a case fatality rate of 1.2%.
He said: “As of today, Nigeria has tested 1.3m persons for COVID-19, with 10% (131,242) of these confirmed positive. Compared with the global and Africa’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 2.2% and 2.5% respectively, Nigeria has fared better with a CFR of 1.2%.