What is the State of the Coronavirus Vaccine in Nigeria?

The very first case of coronavirus in Nigeria was confirmed on 27^th February 2020, as an Italian citizen who travelled into the country presented himself to the government based on suspicion of being infected with the virus. The second case was confirmed by March 9, and both persons were later pronounced negative. Fast forward to March 31, Nigeria had confirmed 139 cases of COVID-19 and had recorded 2 deaths from the virus.

Nigeria reached the 100,000-case milestone in January 2021. At the end of the month, 1,586 deaths were recorded from the deadly virus. As at November 9, the total number of cases in Nigeria has been recorded at 212,765 and the deaths at 2,906. 52 new cases of coronavirus were recorded on November 9, however, no new deaths were recorded.

A solution was proffered in the form of a COVID-19 vaccine, but due to various reasons, many citizens remain unvaccinated. Only 5.7 million Nigerians have received the first dose while only 3.1 million have received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. These paint a bad picture for the future of coronavirus prevention in the country, as not up to 5% of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated.

One of the causes of the lack of vaccination numbers is the disproportion in the number of vaccine doses made available versus the population of the country. In a country where the elite are positioned close to places of power, the average Nigerian has a lower chance of receiving the vaccine when the elite haven’t received theirs. In an ideal situation, everyone should have an equal chance to receive the vaccine regardless of status or financial capability, but that is not entirely the case.

In some vaccination centres, people pay those administering the vaccines in order to get pushed up the waiting list. This kind of behaviour causes other people watching to either lose hope of getting the vaccine when they are supposed to, or to find ways to wriggle their way through a queue. The lack of integrity can even cause some people to lose interest in getting the vaccine at all.

However, the spread of the virus had slowed down around September-November 2020, as there was a significant drop in the number of cases recorded. The ease of restrictions that followed gave people adequate room to relax, and the usage of masks reduced drastically. For those who have been vaccinated now, that may not be a huge problem as the vaccine has given them an advantage in the fight against the virus. However, those who remain unvaccinated but refuse to use masks or respect social distancing guidelines stand at a huge risk of fatal injuries from the virus.