AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccines Supplied To Nigeria Expires July 9

The batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines supplied to Nigeria will expire July 9.

This was disclosed on Wednesday by Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, while giving update on vaccination in the State.

Abayomi, who disclosed that 257,756 residents of Lagos had been vaccinated said by July 9, the vaccines would expire and that they have to be used to vaccinate people before the expiry date.

“The COVID-19 vaccines are due to expire on 9th July 2021. Our monitoring and evaluation quality assurance activity indicates that our cold chain distribution logistics has been maintained ensuring the integrity of the vaccines,” he said.

Giving a breakdown, Abayomi said of the 257,756 persons inoculated as of the 15th of April 2021, 59,444 (23.1%) were health workers; 109,809 (42.6%) were essential workers and 88,503 (34.3%) were strategic leaders.

“Our gender distribution data indicated that we have vaccinated more females than males; with 131,283 females representing 50.9% and 126,473 males representing 49.1% vaccinated as of April 15th, 2021,” he said.

The commissioner stated that evaluation report revealed that Eti-Osa, Lagos Mainland, Ikeja, Kosofe, Alimosho and Surulere were the top six Local Government Areas with the highest number of persons vaccinated.

He disclosed that 28,257 and 25,094 persons were vaccinated in Eti-Osa and Lagos Mainland.

“In Ikeja LGA, we vaccinated 23,194 persons; in Kosofe LGA, 19,398 people received the COVID vaccine. For Alimosho and Surulere, 18,954 and 14,963 persons were vaccinated. Apapa, Amuwo-Odofin, Badagry, Epe, and Ibeju-Lekki local governments have the least number of citizens vaccinated, with less than 8,000 persons vaccinated for each.

“So far, following the administration of the first dose of the vaccine to 257,756 persons, just a few of the persons vaccinated experienced what is termed adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) or adverse event of special interest (AESI) characterised by pain at the injection site, fever or body pains lasting 24 to 48 hours and anaphylactic shock.

“We are being extremely diligent for blood coagulation disorders in view of the prevailing international scientific attention to the possibility of increased risk of developing blood clotting disorders and two cases are being investigated.

“It is important in the interest of scientific knowledge to be able to attribute any blood clotting problems directly to the administration of the vaccine. The Lagos State Government has robust surveillance systems to effectively monitor and track untoward events and I would like to urge anyone who experiences any adverse events to call the number of the LGA Disease Surveillance Notification written in front of the vaccination card so that such cases can be thoroughly investigated and monitored,” he said.