* Buhari, Osinbajo to Take First Jab on Saturday
Chisaa Okoye
Nigeria will begin the vaccination against COVID-19 on Friday in the order of priority, with the frontline health workers on the top of the list.
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will on Saturday receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab, a day after the health workers were administered the vaccines, according to the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib.
The federal government on Tuesday received the first batch of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.
Shuaib stated that the government would kick-off the exercise at the National Hospital in Abuja but the actual time for the inoculation of the Buhari and Osinbajo would be communicated soon.
Shuaib also said that members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, and ministers among others, would be vaccinated on Monday.
He said that about 50 per cent of Nigerians have indicated willingness to be vaccinated while 25 per cent remain hesitant, adding the vaccines would be deployed to only the state that have fulfilled their preparedness criteria.
Nigeria on Tuesday, received its first shipment of 3,924,000 doses of the vaccines from COVAX, a World Health Organisation (WHO)-backed initiative set up to procure and ensure equitable distribution of vaccines for free among countries across the world.