The Nigerian government has quietly ditched the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine meant to vaccinate tens of millions of citizens, and will gradually shift to the Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, saying it is easier to administer.
Documents from the Nigerian Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) obtained by Health Policy Watch show that the agency intends to begin rolling out the J&J vaccine to almost 30 million people as soon as it can obtain the vaccine supplies.
While denying that safety concerns are an issue, the Nigerian government’s move also comes amidst growing global concerns about AstraZeneca’s efficacy against the SARS-CoV2 virus variant first identified in South Africa, as well as safety concerns that have led to the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccines for people under the age of 60 in Germany, and elsewhere.
