Abuja – The United States government celebrates the Government of Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccination milestone achievements. With substantial support from the United States Agency for International Development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Defense, along with international development partners, the Nigerian government has made great strides in its efforts to vaccinate 70 percent of the eligible population against COVID-19.
The Government of Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccine deployment strategy, known as service delivery, communication, accountability, logistics, electronic management of immunization data and supportive supervision (SCALES), initially launched in July 2021, was critical to the laudable progress made to date. With the progress made by SCALES, more than 65 percent of the eligible population has received at least one dose, 54.3 percent (more than 60 million people) of the eligible population are fully vaccinated, and 70 percent vaccine coverage has been achieved in 12 states as of December 14.
“We are confident that Nigeria has laid a firm foundation to minimize morbidity and mortality as a result of COVID-19,” said U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard. “We remain committed to working with you to ensure that we vaccinate those Nigerians most difficult to reach and bring the gains seen elsewhere to the most vulnerable.”
“I applaud the U.S government agencies and all other partners behind these achievements, who not only provided technical and financial support, but were the inspiration and guiding spirit behind the success,” said the Minister of State for Health, Joseph Akumankama at the event.
Since December 2021, the U.S. government has contributed over 32.6 million vaccine doses and more than $66.7 million in vaccine service delivery, commodity logistics and supply chain management, multimedia messaging campaigns to counter vaccine hesitancy, data management, and continued technical assistance to Nigeria. The U.S. government has also supported the distribution of more than 33.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the national to state levels and 44.6 million doses from state warehouses to consumers at local government areas.