The U.S. Mission in Nigeria made the announcement in a
statement on Thursday in Abuja, stating that the shipment brings the total
number of U.S.-bilaterally donated doses to Nigeria to over 7.5 million.
According to the statement, the U.S. also contributed to the
first multilateral donation of AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021. Overall,
COVAX has provided Nigeria with over 10 million doses to date.
The U.S has also pledged to purchase and donate 1.1 billion
COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide, and to date has delivered more than 180
million doses to more than 100 countries.
It stated that the U.S. government’s continued efforts to
provide vaccines to African Union (AU) member countries helps fulfil President
Biden’s pledge.
“Biden said: “The United States is committed to bringing the
same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at
home.
“We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the
world in bringing an end to the pandemic.”
The Mission noted that the vaccine donations are a part of
the U.S. government’s continued partnership with the Government of Nigeria in
combatting COVID-19.
To date, the U.S. government has provided 130 million
dollars of support to Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and Presidential Steering
Committee on COVID-19.
The U.S. government is looking forward to continued
coordination with Nigeria and its Center for Disease Control to deliver
life-saving doses across the country through the COVAX initiative.