President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday received a COVID-19 booster shot hours after health officials announced the start of a fourth wave of the pandemic.
The 79-year-old received his shot at the Presidential Villa.
He received his first dose in March when the vaccination campaign kiked off, and his second dose in May.
President Muhammadu Buhari displays his COVID-19 vaccine card [Presidency]
The administration of booster shots commenced in Nigeria on December 10 after officials expressed worry over the new Omicron variant of the virus that rapidly spread across the world.
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa , recently announced that the country had entered a fourth wave.
He said the Delta and Omicron variants have caused a 500% increase in COVID-19 infections over the past two weeks.
Nigeria has managed to vaccinate only 8.9 million people with at least one shot in the past nine months. 4.1 million of them have received a second dose.
Only 3.7% of the over 111 million residents targeted for vaccination by the end of next year have been fully vaccinated, according to the figures published on Tuesday.
The Director-General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, lamented last week that that most of the country’s eligible population have not presented themselves for vaccination.
“The jabs are available, Nigerians need to avail themselves to protect not just themselves but their loved ones and their communities,” he said.
Concerns over the dismal vaccination figures have prompted the recent launch of mass vaccination campaigns across the country to ramp up operations.
The campaign expanded vaccination points to all public and private health facilities, and in populated areas including tertiary institutions, stadiums, motor parks, town squares, markets, shopping malls, etc.
The campaign’s goal is the vaccination of at least 50% of target population by the end of January 2022.
Nigeria has recorded over 225,000 COVID-19 infections since the first case was detected in February 2020.
Nearly 3,000 people have died.
