Nigeria to vaccinate 20 million people against coronavirus

The Nigerian Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire, has disclosed that plans are underway to vaccinate as many people as possible, starting with 20 million doses of the vaccine.

He said during a televised news conference in Abuja that:

- The government will receive 20 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. ???????This will make it possible to vaccinate about 20 million people against the novel coronavirus.”

Ehanire emphasized that health sector workers will be vaccinated first, then the vulnerable and those with chronic illnesses.

“We have hope to vaccinate as many people as possible, but we want to start with 20 million doses of the vaccine first."

Why this matters

This information comes in handy considering that many countries including Nigeria, are beginning to experience the second wave of Covid-19, which is confirmed by the recent surge in the number of Covid-19 confirmed cases recorded in the country in recent days.

- Data from Nairametrics’ Covid-19 update indicates that the number of cases recorded is increasing at an alarming rate.

- The latest number of 675 confirmed cases indicates a 575% rise compared with 474 cases the previous day.

- The number of deaths recorded (6) on the 10th of December is the highest since the 1st of July 2020.


What you should know

- On the 10th of December 2020, 675 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

-A total daily test of 11,830 samples across the country was conducted the same day.

- A total of 829,743 tests have been carried out as of December 10th, 2020, compared to 817,913 tests a day earlier.

- To date, 71,344 cases have been confirmed, 65,474 cases have been discharged, and 1,190 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

- According to the NCDC, the 675 new cases were reported from 16 states – FCT (183), Lagos (128), Kaduna (85), Kwara (57), Katsina (50), Plateau (42), Rivers (39), Kano (33), Ondo (21), Ogun (17), Bauchi (10), Sokoto (5), Edo (2), Ekiti (1), Bayelsa (1), and Delta (1).