- Nigeria’s Senate, Executive Meet over Plans to Purchase COVID-19 Vaccine
President-elect Joe Biden has received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, saying he was getting the jab to show Americans it is “safe to take”, BBC News reports.
Mr Biden joins a growing number of political leaders getting the jab, including Vice-President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On Sunday, the roll-out began for a second vaccine, by Moderna, which was approved last week.
More than 500,000 Americans are said to have now been vaccinated.
“I’m doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it’s available to take the vaccine,” Mr Biden said from Newark, Delaware, where he got the jab live on TV. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
He said the Trump administration “deserves some credit” for launching the country’s vaccine program.
Mr Biden’s running mate, Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff are expected to receive their first shots next week.
The Biden team has set a goal of 100 million Covid-19 vaccinations in the US during the administration’s first 100 days in the White House.
During the pandemic, the US has recorded more than 17.8 million cases and 317,000 deaths.
President Donald Trump, who spent three days in hospital with the coronavirus in October, has not said when he intends to get the vaccine.
The president, who has spread misinformation about the vaccine’s risks, is now one of last remaining of the country’s top elected officials to not received the first of the course of two jabs.
“I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time,” Mr Trump wrote in a 13 December tweet.
Some of his advisers have defended the delay, saying he is still protected by the treatments he received to beat the virus.
Who gets the vaccine first?
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday released a new set of guidelines for the next groups of Americans to be eligible for vaccination.
- Phase 1A: US vaccine distribution has so far 21 million healthcare workers, as well as the three million elderly Americans living in long-term care facilities. Vaccinations for this group began last week.
- Phase 1B: Americans aged 75 and older, in addition to frontline workers will be next up. This broad category includes some 30 million workers “who are in sectors essential to the functioning of society” with high risk of exposure. First responders, corrections workers, US Postal Service employees, and those who work in education, public transit, grocery stores, manufacturing, food and agriculture will be eligible. This phase is expected to begin in January.
- Phase 1C: Americans aged 65 and older, those with underlying medical conditions that increase their risk of severe illness from Covid-19, and other essential non-frontline workers. This category includes an estimated 129 million people.
How has the rollout been so far?
Roughly three million doses of the Pfzier vaccine have been shipped and more than 500,000 Americans have been vaccinated so far, according to the CDC. And on Sunday, distribution of the Moderna vaccine began in the country too, with some six million vaccine doses available for immediate shipment.
The army general in charge of distributing Covid vaccines in the US on Saturday apologised for a “miscommunication” with certain states over the number of doses to be delivered in the initial stages of distribution. More than a dozen states had expressed concern at a cut in the expected number.
On Friday, more than 100 doctors at Stanford Medical Center protested against the university’s plan for vaccine distribution. They say only seven of more than 1,300 residents – recent graduates of medical school – were selected to receive the vaccine in the first round of 5,000 doses. Hospital administrators and doctors working from home were given priority over those working directly with Covid-19 patients, according to the protesters.
Stanford officials later apologised, saying the university was working “to address the flaws in our plan”.
Nigeria’s Senate, Executive Meet over Plans to Purchase COVID-19 Vaccine
The Senate leadership on Monday met with representatives of the Executive arm of Government in a move that would see to the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccines next year by the Federal Government.
The meeting which lasted about two hours thirty minutes was presided over by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
In attendance were: Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Minister of State for Health, Sen. Dr. Olorunimbe Mamora; Director-General, Budget and National Planning, Ben Akabueze; Director-General, National Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu; and Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in his welcome address said that the meeting which was summoned at the instance of the Senate leadership, was scheduled to ascertain the level of preparedness by the Federal Government towards the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to him, an engagement between the legislature and executive would evaluate and appraise government’s readiness to acquire the vaccine for administration to Nigerians across the country.
“Essentially, we want you to tell us how we are going to be able to provide the vaccines in such a manner that the vaccines are not only acquired, but remain efficacious and effective, that they are not invalidated because of any challenge in the area of storage or during transportation. And we know ours is a very difficult and sometimes impossible environment.
“Other countries have already started receiving the vaccines, even though I’m not sure if there’s any African country that has received. But if any African country should receive first, it should be Nigeria.
“Alongside these, you should also give us an idea on how we are going to start the vaccination.
“We need to have the strategy of how we intend to do it, so that we don’t run into any chaos.
“That means we need to continue to campaign for our people to continue to use face-masks and hand sanitizers as well as keep to social distancing.
“Because if we have the vaccine, it would take quite some time before everybody gets it. And before then, we should insist on the protocols because this is a matter of life and death,” Lawan said.
Briefing the Senate leadership, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said four holding points had been identified by the agency for storage of the vaccine.
According to him, the locations are: Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Kano.
He disclosed that an ultra-cool system will be provided by GAVI – a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries – at the various locations as part of an initial 20 percent agreement.
He added that, “the vaccine distribution plan has been developed and will be further updated with the micro-planning process as the need arises.”
On the cost implication for purchase of the vaccine, Shuaib said that additional vaccines over the 20 percent supply agreement to poor countries will be purchased by the Federal Government.
“In terms of the cost of the vaccines, we plan to reach 70 percent as earlier mentioned by the end of 2022.
“For 2021, GAVI-eligible countries like Nigeria will be supported through the COVAX AMC facility in the procurement of 20 percent for the total population.
“Any additional vaccine required that is above 20 percent of the COVAX facility will be funded by Nigeria at an average price of $4 per dose, given that the vaccines that we have now require 2 doses; that will be $8USD per person.
“This additional 20 percent requirement in 2021 will have to be funded by the government of Nigeria.
“In 2022, we are trying to access a further 30 percent of the vaccines. The Federal Government will have to, in addition to buying these vaccines, pay for the operational cost which is estimated to be about $1.6USD per person.
“We have to budget for this in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the cost of vaccines on operations will be N156.7 billion; In 2022, it will be N220.9 billion,” Shuaib said.