Joseph Bakare
Federal Government has disclosed that it directed all states administering the COVID-19 vaccine to halt the exercise the moment they used half of the doses allocated to them.
This is due to the uncertainty over the availability of the next batch of the vaccines.
Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora made the disclosire during the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja.
The Minister explained that the directive became necessary since the country was not sure when next the second batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine would arrive the country. Further, he stated that the move was also to enable those who had received their first jab to be able to complete their vaccination.
He confirmed that the directive to states to vaccinate half of the doses deployed had come from the Federal Government.
“We believe that in a situation where we still cannot specifically determine when the next batch of AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive. Then I think wisdom dictates that it’s better for us to vaccinate people fully.
“And so, we can say that we have a pool of citizens that have been fully vaccinated; since this vaccination comes in two doses. So that’s what gave rise to that directive; rather than just going ahead with just single dose when the full dose should be two doses of the same.
“So we felt that it was proper for us in the circumstance to ensure that those who have been vaccinated have been fully vaccinated,” he said
