Nigeria May Get COVID-19 Vaccines In 10 Days, Health Minister Says

Health Minister Dr. Osagi Ehanire said on Saturday in Lagos that Nigeria could receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the next 10 days, The PUNCH reported.

“We were told that by the end of this month, in about 10 days, we will have vaccines.

“We don’t make vaccines. They are manufactured overseas in about four or five countries, ”he told reporters after an inspection trip to the teaching hospital of Lagos University, Idi Arab.

Ehanire explained that the United States of America, Britain, Russia and China, which have managed to produce vaccines, have now licensed other countries to reproduce them.

“South Africa has a license to manufacture Johnson and Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, while Russia only recently granted India a license to manufacture AstraZeneca,” the minister said.

He said the countries producing vaccines have serious problems with COVID-19 and have decided to meet their needs first, which the WHO has described as vaccine nationalism.

Ehanire noted that while the entire world has been affected by COVID-19 bites, about 75% of the vaccines already produced are in use in 10 countries.

The minister stressed that all conditions for obtaining vaccines have been created in Nigeria.

Welcoming the minister earlier, LUTH Chief Medical Officer Prof. Chris Bode turned to the minister for help in hiring 350 nurses, 50 consultants and 150 health workers.

Bod said the hospital also needs an oxygen plant and additional funding to build a four-story isolation ward, manage the hospital effectively and pay huge monthly electricity bills.