>
The Federal Government has postponed the administration of the second phase of the coronavirus vaccine doses.
The Director of Press, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, had announced on Saturday that the administration would commence on Tuesday.
However, in a notice on Sunday, Bassey said the exercise had been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
“This is to announce the postponement of the national flag-off exercise of phase II vaccination programme earlier scheduled for Tuesday this week due to unforeseen circumstances.
“A new date will be communicated, please,” he said.
He, however, failed to give a new date for the rollout of the vaccines.
The Federal Government had received 4.08 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States on August 1.
The vaccine doses were received by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on behalf of the Federal Government and stored at the country’s National Strategic Cold Store near Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The Moderna vaccine had been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and approved by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
It is the second batch of vaccines received by Nigeria after the country had run out of the initial four million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine received from the COVAX facility.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the country has recorded 177,615 coronavirus cases and 2,185 fatalities as of August 7.