Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stated that Nigeria and other African countries will get access to COVID-19 vaccines from the end of January 2021 through the first quarter of 2021.
Okonjo-Iweala gave the assurance after a closed-door meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama in Abuja.
In a statement, Okonjo-Iweala said, “As long as one person has it in the world, no one is safe. And that is why poorer countries, lower middle-income countries like Nigeria, need to get it as quickly as possible.”
She noted that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were presently being negotiated so that poor countries don’t have to stand in a queue behind rich countries.
Okonjo-Iweala further stated that Nigeria was blessed for not having the same incidence rate of COVID-19 as other continents.