The Federal Government has stated on Wednesday that when COVID-19 vaccinations commence in the country Nigerians will get it for free.
InsightnaijaTV reports that this was made known by the National Coordinator of Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
He revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari had given the PTF the mandate to proceed with preparations with regard to the vaccine.
Aliyu said: “The President has also given us a marching order that the COVID-19 vaccine be made available in Nigeria.
“The COVID-19 vaccine will be available in Nigeria making use of the GAVI arrangement. We already have the assurance that we will have 20% of our population accommodated by GAVI, which is about 40 million Nigerians. They won’t need to pay for that (the vaccine).”
According to the PTF coordinator, efforts are being made to allay the fears of Nigerians on receiving shots of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“The biggest challenge we will have with the vaccine is not going to be the logistics, the biggest challenge will be the public acceptance of the safety of the vaccines and allowing themselves to be vaccinated, the challenge will be very similar to the one we have with polio,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the federal government has not declared a fresh lockdown of the country over COVID-19.
Speaking on a Radio Nigeria programme, “Politics Nationwide”, Mohammed said the directives and position of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 did not translate to partial or total lockdown.
According to the former spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the government only gave a directive to reduce the chances of mass gathering by directing its workers from Level 12 below to work from home.
Lai Mohammed said: “The Federal Government has not declared a fresh lockdown.
“What we have done is that we have simply reiterated the old protocols and asked federal workers on Level 12 and below to stay at home and they will still receive their salaries.”
