Kwara receives AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines consignment

The Kwara Government, on Tuesday night, received its own consignment of the COVID-19 vaccines.

This is contained in a statement by the Press Secretary, Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development, Mosebolatan Olayemi, in Ilorin.

The consignment was received by the State government’s team led by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Abubakar Ayinla at the Ilorin International Airport at about 8.30p.m.

Dr Nusirat Elelu, the Executive Secretary Kwara Primary Healthcare Development Agency who addressed newsmen, said the state is excited to witness the delivery of the vaccines to support its fight against coronavirus.

“We are certainly very excited to receive these vaccines for Kwara. This is a very historic day in the history of not just Kwara but the whole of the country.

“This signifies that there is light at the end of the tunne.

“COVID-19 has ravaged the whole world in the last one year and I know that those that have lost loved ones or are down with COVID-19 or just recovered from COVID-19 will know that this is certainly a historic day for us.

“We expect our people to come out and get themselves protected (once the schedules have been released) because the vaccines have been proved to be effective against this infectious disease.

”This is an opportunity to protect our people against the deadly disease,” she said..

Elelu stated that the vaccine is going to be administered in four phases.

“The first phase will target the front liners. our frontline health workers, people that work at the port of entries, members of the military and some of our strategic leaders.

“The reason we are also prioritising our strategic leaders is for them to serve as an example to show the world that the vaccine is safe, effective and efficient,” she said.

She also assured Kwara people that the administration of the vaccines will be launched within the next few days.

It was reported that Nigeria on March 4, 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.

Nigeria is expected to receive an additional 42 million doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.