FGN RECEIVE M4.4 MILLION COVID-19 VACCINES DONATION FROM SPAIN
The Spanish Embassy in Nigeria announced on Wednesday, May 25 that it has contributed 4.4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the Nigerian government to help combat the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
This was said in an embassy statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, captioned “No one will be safe until we are all safe.”
The donation, according to the embassy, was made in support of the Spanish government’s unwavering commitment to ensuring fair, equal, and universal access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The UNICEF-supported event to hand off the immunizations was held on the premises of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), according to the mission.
According to the embassy, Spain is now the third country to donate COVID-19 vaccinations to Nigeria.
According to the report, the donation was the largest ever made by Spain to a single African country.
With 70 million doses provided thus far, Spain is now the world’s seventh-largest vaccine contributor.
“Spain is a firm believer in multilateral cooperation.
“As a result, this donation, like over 90% of Spanish donations, was made through the COVAX mechanism.”
“Moreover, this donation represents yet another “Team Europe” effort in Nigeria, including the EU and its member states.
“Altogether, the EU and EU countries have donated 30 million vaccines to Nigeria so far.”
The embassy said that at the handover ceremony, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Chief Executive Officer of NPHCDA had urged Nigerian citizens to ensure that they received the jabs.
The embassy further said that the Spanish Ambassador, Juan Sell, underscored the importance of reaching every Nigerian citizen and every remote corner of the world if the pandemic were to be contained.
“We have to strengthen primary health systems and we must improve global mechanisms for technology transfer to decentralize the production of health products in all regions, particularly in Africa.
“In that sense, the President of the government of Spain announced at the recent Global Summit against COVID-19 that Spain will donate 300 million dollars for an additional 30 million COVID-19 vaccines and for the strengthening of public health systems.
“This will be accomplished via COVID-19-related projects carried out by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.”
“Spain has also joined the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Group and is a member of the Team Europe effort on vaccine manufacture and access, which was presented by the EU Ambassador to Nigeria.”
