Atiku hopes Nigerians will soon have access to the vaccines to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 2019 presidential candidate received the first of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, according to a report by TheCable.
“The importance of the #COVID19 vaccine in mitigating the effect of the coronavirus cannot be overstated, particularly in Africa and Nigeria,” his spokesperson Paul Ibe said.
He said Atiku, 74, looks forward to when Nigerians, especially medical professionals in the frontline and the most vulnerable, will be vaccinated.
Since COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019, it has infected over 87 million people and killed nearly 1.9 million across the world.
Vaccines were deployed in a few countries late in 2020 after a couple of them were confirmed to be over 90% effective against the virus.
Nigeria hopes to start a mass vaccination campaign at the end of January, with the delivery of 42 million doses of the vaccine expected by the end of the year.
That figure is expected to inoculate less than half of the nation’s estimated population of 200 million.
Since Nigeria’s first case was detected last February, over 92,000 cases have been recorded, with a feared second wave of infections kicking off in December.
