The federal government says “politics and logistics” problems are the major reason it has not received the first batch of 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said this on Sunday .
He said the issue of vaccines was a serious one to the government which had put every needed infrastructure in place for its storage.
“The fact that these vaccines will now come in February is not due to Nigeria’s fault. “We are very ready to receive the 100,00 doses and we have the infrastructure, even when it is going to be preserved at about -70 Degree Celsius,” he said.
The minister said the ultra-cold freezers to store the Pfizer vaccine candidate doses upon their arrival in the country had already been acquired before the companies said it had to wait till February.
He said government had also accessed the African Union (AU) and other international agencies for vaccines, adding that Nigerian targets to vaccinate 70 percent of its population in the next two years.
