The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, says Nigeria is making efforts to get the coronavirus vaccines from China.
This is after the World Health Organisation (WHO), denied Nigeria access to its available vaccines on the saying ‘it would be wasteful to give Nigeria the vaccine’.
Onyeama disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said hopefully by the end of February, Nigeria will get vaccines from China, one of its strategic partners, and from other countries.
“What we are engaging with China is in the area of vaccines for COVID-19, so we are also looking to import, to acquire significant vaccines from China and other partners too. I think in the short immediate time that is an area we will need China,” he said.
“They have cooperated with us with regards to personal protective equipment and other things in our COVID response.
“So we are now at the stage of the vaccine and we are hoping that we can get some support from them in that area.
“There are different ways we are expecting to get the vaccines. There is the bilateral way as a country that we are negotiating.
“Then we have the framework of the African Union collectively as a continent, they are also engagements to receive vaccine.
“The African Union has made some headway, more than 400 million as what has been agreed to. So we were hoping that at the end of January we would have started receiving the vaccines.
“But I think almost certainly by the middle of February we should have started receiving,” Onyeama said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in January when the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Nigeria, the Federal Government opened discussions with China to have access to its COVID-19 vaccines.
Nigerians have, however, been expectant of vaccines, especially as the cases of COVID-19 in the country continue to surge.
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