No fewer than  215, 277 Nigerians have taken doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

This was contained in a document of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, obtained by one of our correspondents on Tuesday.

The figure is a significant increase from the total number of 122, 410 recorded as of Monday.

Recall that Nigeria on March 2 received  3.94 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility, COVAX.

Ghana and Ivory Coast have also benefited from COVAX, an initiative co-led by the vaccine alliance, GAVI and the World Health Organisation, meant to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines by dividing about two billion doses across 92 low and middle-income countries.

But while Nigeria had vaccinated 215,277 people, the BBC reported that as of Monday Ghana, which  received  600,000 doses, had  used more than 420,000 of them.

According to the report, Rwanda,  which got  under 400,000 doses – some via the Covax scheme and some donated by India, has  so far vaccinated more than 320,000 people.

In Nigeria, on Tuesday, states that had yet to start the vaccination reduced to seven from Monday’s figure of eight.

According to the NPHCDA document, Sokoto joined the league of states that have started vaccination with 78 persons vaccinated therefore leaving only Abia, Kebbi, Kogi, Niger, Oyo, Taraba and Zamfara as states where the exercise has yet to commence.

The figure, which was compiled from the Electronic Management of Immunisation Data System Dashboard, showed that the figure of those vaccinated in Lagos State increased  from Monday’s 36,009 to 58, 461.

Lagos, which is described as the epicentre of the pandemic, is still the state with the highest number of people vaccinated so far.

According to the document, Bauchi has vaccinated 23,827 as against Monday’s 14,422; Jigawa has vaccinated 20,800 as against Monday’s 19,226 ; Ogun has vaccinated 19,257 as against Monday’s 9,765; Kaduna vaccinated 14,572 as against Monday’s 7,099; and Kwara vaccinated 12, 016 as against 5,302.

Katsina also vaccinated 10,002 as against Monday’s 3,401; the Federal Capital Territory vaccinated 8,615 as against Monday’s 5,232; Adamawa vaccinated 7,407 as against Monday’s 4,150; Nasarawa vaccinated 6,801  as against Monday’s 5,133; while Yobe vaccinated 5,509 as against Monday’s 2,498.

According to the NPHCDA,  Ebonyi has vaccinated 77 persons; Sokoto, 98; Akwa Ibom, 127; Anambra, 132; Benue, 146; Gombe, 203; Bayelsa, 552; Borno, 653; Plateau, 883 and Delta, 915.

The Executive Director, NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, had during the weekly press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday said the country had not recorded any adverse effect of the Oxford AstraZeneca on any of those vaccinated so far.

Also on Tuesday, the Federal  Government took delivery of the first set of 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine out of a total of 1.4 million doses MTN planned to donate to Nigeria.

A statement issued by the telecommunication firm  on Tuesday titled ‘First set of MTN donation of 1.4 million doses of vaccines received by Nigeria’, noted that the MTN Group had contributed $25m for the vaccines, a combination of doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility and from the AU ‘s COVID-19 vaccination programme.

It said the vaccines would be distributed amongst health workers in Nigeria by the NPHCDA.

Also, Director-General of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu expressed appreciation on behalf of the government.

Emphasising on the power of partnership and collaboration, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola explained that the ongoing threat of COVID-19 required a vast and accelerated effort by both the private and public sectors.