The Federal Government on Monday announced August 16 to begin administering the second batch of COVID-19 Moderna vaccine doses donated by the United States.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the announcement when he featured on “Good Morning Nigeria’’, a live programme of the Nigerian Television Authority.
The minister said the postponement of the vaccination exercise from August 10 to August 16 was “purely administrative’’.
“We have received 4,800,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and we will commence administering the doses on Monday August 16.
“The exercise was supposed to commence tomorrow Aug. 10, but we suspended it till Monday, and the reason is purely administrative.
“You see, when vaccines arrive the country, they are taken to National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
“The agency which will analyse them and thereafter give us a green light for their use,’’ he said.
The minister debunked reports in certain publications that the exercise was postponed indefinitely over concerns raised by some experts on the propriety of using Moderna vaccines.
He said, like the first batch of the Astrazeneca vaccine which had been fully administered without hitch, the doses of Moderna vaccine donated to the country by the US were “safe and meant to save lives’’
“I want to thank Nigerians for the way they responded to the first batch of Astrazeneca Vaccine.
“I can say authoritatively that we succeeded in administering the four million doses of the vaccine and we do not have a single expired vaccine.
“They were all administered to the targeted population.
“I want to encourage Nigerians to come out also to take the Moderna vaccine,” he added.
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