- Half of Nigeria’s Population to Access COVID-19 Vaccines
The Board of Directors World Bank has approved an additional US$400million credit to Nigeria from its International Development Association (IDA) for COVID-19 vaccine acquisition.
The additional fund was announced via a statement issued in Washington stating that the fund is meant to provide upfront financing for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and deployment within the country.
The statement revealed that the grant would be implemented as part of the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project.
Furthermore, it was observed that facility will build on the Federal Government’s plan to break the chain of local transmission of COVID-19 and limit the spread of the virus, expanding the original COVID-19 response program to enable equitable access.
The statement clarified that credit will ensure purchase of COVID-19 vaccines for about 40 million Nigerians, as well as support effective deployment of vaccines to about 110 million Nigerians.
The additional funds will also support strengthening of relevant health systems vaccine deployment and also prepare for future health emergencies.
“Critically, it will permit the acquisition of vaccines to support Nigeria’s objective of having access to vaccines under the right conditions of value-for-money, regulatory approvals, and delivery time, among other important features.
“This will ensure that the government meets its plans to vaccinate 51 per cent of its population in two years.”
The statement recalled that the World Bank has since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, deployed over US$157 billion dollars to fight the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic, the fastest and largest crisis response in its history.
[…] in his opening remarks stated that the world Bank of Nigeria has raised 30million dollars ($30,000,000) to help finance the vaccine plant planned to […]