The World Health Organisation (WHO) has not shortlisted Nigeria for the Pfizer vaccines.
This is because of the country’s failure to meet the standard requirement of being able to store the vaccines at the required -70 degrees Celsius.
The Nigerian government had said it is expecting to receive 100,000 doses through the COVAX initiative.
However, speaking at a virtual press conference, the Director, WHO, African Region, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, disclosed that just four African countries were shortlisted out of the 13 that applied.
They are Tunisia, Cape Verde, South Africa and Rwanda.
Moeti said, “Around 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries – Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia.
“This vaccine has received WHO Emergency Use Listing but requires countries to be able to store and distribute doses at minus 70 degrees Celsius.”
She called on countries to “fine-tune their plans for COVID-19 immunization campaigns.”
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