The Federal Government held a reception ceremony after the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

The ceremony was held on Tuesday, at the VIP Protocol section, General Aviation Terminal of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

It had in attendance the Minister of Health,  Dr Osagie Ehanire; the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu , and  the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, who organised the ceremony.

The CEO of NPHCDA, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health, had earlier disclosed that “There is going to be a small ceremony chaired by the Chairman of the PTF on COVID-19 to receive the vaccine at the VIP Protocol section, General Aviation Terminal of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

“At the end of the ceremonies to mark the arrival of the vaccines, a few vials of the vaccines would be handed over to the NAFDAC team which they will analyze over a period of two days (Wednesday March 3rd and Thursday, March 4th).”

Recall that CEOAFRICA reported that Nigeria received nearly four million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, shipped via the COVAX Facility, a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF and WHO.

COVAX shipped 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, arrived from Mumbai to Abuja around 11.30 am on Tuesday.