The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has approved 4.08m doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use after it was received by the federal government from the United States.

Representatives from UNICEF and USAID officially presented the vaccine which arrived in Nigeria on Sunday, August 1 via two planes, at a ceremony in Abuja on Monday, August 2.

Faisal Shuaib, Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) who addressed the media afterwards, said the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 purchased 60 ultra-cold chain equipment ahead of the delivery and have since allocated one to each of the 36 states.

Shuaib revealed that the initial four million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine received from COVAX facility has been exhausted and the country is expecting three additional brands of the vaccine.

The NPHCDA Director said they’ve received communication for the delivery of 3.9 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, four million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, 3.5 million doses of Pfizer-Bio-N Tech COVID-19 vaccine, and 29.8 million doses of Johnson & Johnson (Jassen) COVID-19 vaccine in coming weeks.