About 3.9million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India(SII) and shipped via the COVAX Facility, have arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday.
The United Nations (UN) system in Nigeria confirmed this in a statement.
It said the delivery was part of a first wave of arrivals in Nigeria that would continue in the coming days and weeks.
The statement quotes the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, as saying that “the UN is committed to support the vaccination campaign in the country and help contain the spread of the virus.”
“The arrival of these vaccines in Abuja today marks a milestone for the COVAX Facility in its unprecedented effort to deliver at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines globally by the end of 2021.
“The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine will enable the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to commence the vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with frontline healthcare workers,” he said.