COVID-19 vaccines not for under 18 as FG takes delivery of 4m

By Florence Kalu

As the federal government is set to take delivery of four million COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday, those with 18 years downwards are not to be vaccinated.

The position was made known by the  Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 .

According to the statement made available by the Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, the Federal Government planned to cover 70 percent of Nigerians within two years.

The minister warned  private organisations against procuring, distributing and administering the coronavirus vaccines as they are not permitted.

To ensure smooth management of the four million vaccines arriving on Tuesday, Mamora said the PTF had approved the TEACH strategy and the electronic management immunisation system.

He said the strategy called the TEACH approach harnesses all the benefits of traditional, electronic, assisted and concomitant house-to-house registration to optimise the use of innovative technology.

Mamora said that the TEACH approach entails the traditional method of vaccinating target populations using desk review of available data sources, identifying the vaccination sites and roll out.

He described the strategy as innovative to ensure a smooth rollout so that no one was left behind.

The Minister reststed that presently, only Health Care Development Agency would import and manage vaccines until further notice, as private importation of vaccines shall not be allowed.