According to officials, Africa’s most populous country will receive 100,000 doses of COVID-19 by February 2021.
Health expertise at Pfizer affirmed that the COVID-19 vaccine has to be stored in a cold temperature and this might prove difficult when getting them to rural areas.
However, it was reported that Nigeria has found a way to beat the challenge through its ultra-cold chain equipment.
Dr. Faisal Shuaib, director-general of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA) said “What we do have coming to the country is the Pfizer vaccines that require about -70 degrees Celsius,
“This is why we are actively making sure that we have those vaccines and also bearing in mind that additional vaccines might be brought from the Covax facility that will require these types of temperatures.”
According to Dr. Shuaib, the NPHDA has put in place three Ultra Cold Chain (UCC) equipment that will be used to bring in the vaccine.
He said, “Three of them have a total capacity of 2,100 liters. So, we have more than enough space for the 100,000 doses of the vaccine that will be brought in the first instance”.
“We will be focusing more on those vaccines that do not require these kinds of complicated cold chain mechanisms. So the Oxford-Astrazeneca types of vaccine that require +2 to +8 degrees Celsius are what we are going to be focusing on,” he added.
As of January 22nd, Nigeria reported 118,138 COVID-19 confirmed cases and 1,490 deaths since the outbreak of the virus.