Matilda Omonaiye/
Nigeria today commences the use of AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 amid skepticism across the world over its effectiveness and investigations in South Korea after two receivers of the vaccine died.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, announced yesterday that Nigeria would commence the vaccination against COVID-19 today with AstraZeneca.
But, South Korean authorities yesterday announced the commencement of investigation of the deaths of two people after a media report says the pair – both with pre-existing conditions – died within days of receiving AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.
A 63-year-old nursing home patient with cerebrovascular disease developed symptoms, including high fever, after being given the AstraZeneca vaccine, Yonhap news agency reported. The person was moved to a larger hospital on Tuesday, but died after showing symptoms of blood poisoning and pneumonia, Yonhap said.
Another person in their 50s with a cardiac disorder and diabetes died on Wednesday after suffering multiple heart attacks, having received the same vaccine a day earlier, the agency said.
An official with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) told Reuters it was investigating the cause of the deaths, but did not elaborate or confirm the details of Yonhap’s report.
An AstraZeneca spokeswoman in Seoul said the company had no comment presently.
Nigeria received its first shipment of 3,924,000 doses of the vaccines on Tuesday from COVAX, a World Health Organization (WHO)-backed initiative set up to procure and ensure equitable distribution of vaccines for free among countries across the world.
Dr. Shuaib told journalists yesterday in Abuja that frontline health workers would be the first set of persons to be vaccinated at the National Hospital in Abuja and that President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would take the vaccines on Saturday.
He also said that ministers and other members of the Federal Executive Council would be vaccinated on Monday.
Speaking on the willingness of Nigerians to take the vaccine, Dr. Shuaib said that about 50 percent of Nigerians had indicated interest in taking the vaccine, while only 25 percent were still not decided if they would take the vaccine.
South Korea began vaccinating its population last week. By Tuesday midnight, 85,904 people had received their first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,524 had been given Pfizer shots, KDCA says in a statement.
South Korea reported 444 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, up from 344 on Monday, raising the country’s tally to 90,816 infections, with 1,612 deaths.
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