14th October, 2021
By Lizzy Okoji
The United States Government has donated 3,577,860 doses of Pfizer vaccine for the public health and benefit of the Nigerian people through COVAX.
The U.S. Mission in Nigeria made the announcement in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, stating that the shipment brings the total number of U.S.-bilaterally donated doses to Nigeria to over 7.5 million.
According to the statement, the U.S. also contributed to the first multilateral donation of AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021. Overall, COVAX has provided Nigeria with over 10 million doses to date.
The U.S has also pledged to purchase and donate 1.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide, and to date has delivered more than 180 million doses to more than 100 countries.
It stated that the U.S. government’s continued efforts to provide vaccines to African Union (AU) member countries helps fulfil President Biden’s pledge.
“Biden said: “The United States is committed to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at home.
“We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic.”
The Mission noted that the vaccine donations are a part of the U.S. government’s continued partnership with the Government of Nigeria in combatting COVID-19.
To date, the U.S. government has provided 130 million dollars of support to Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.
The U.S. government is looking forward to continued coordination with Nigeria and its Center for Disease Control to deliver life-saving doses across the country through the COVAX initiative.