The Federal government says it has started Implementing the decentralisation of vaccine untilization by involving the private sector in its administration.
The Executive Director National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a press conference to give an update on the COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
He said in the coming months, Nigeria will be receiving more doses of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX facility hence they anticipate that the vaccines will be quite large in amount, and therefore will require more efficient and faster ways of utilizing them including expanding access to the vaccine and to ensure rapid and safe utilization of it.
According to him, COVID-19 vaccines are currently available at Government health facilities only noting that as they decentralize, private health facilities who meet the set criteria will be allocated COVID-19 vaccines, after due training of their immunization service providers.
Dr. Faisal said clients will subsequently be able to access COVID-19 vaccines at both government and private health care facilities in the country adding that this will be done at different levels which would include the States and Local Governments.
He said that they are taking every caution to ensure that when implemented, the decentralization policy is not corrupted.
He further said private health care facilities will be carefully selected based on transparent eligibility criteria, and supervision will be maximized to ensure discipline and compliance with safety measures.
Dr. Faisal said vaccinations in private health facility will continue with the help of Government health officials.
The WHO Country Representative Dr. Walter Mulombo at the brief commended Nigeria on the roll out guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines adding that they have set guidelines for other country’s to follow.
Dr. Mulombo said they are discussing how to roll out a mission in Nigeria to learn what Nigeria has done in the vaccine roll out.
He however said the WHO has not made vaccination a criteria for entering into any country while calling on all countries to respect international air regulations and human rights.
