JOHN NWOKOCHA, Abuja

*As testing stops in 13 states

The fast transmitting infectious Delta strain of COVID-19 is ‘tearing’ unvaccinated Nigerians, News Express can confirm.

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire made his disclosure during a virtual press briefing with the World Health Organisation on Nigeria’s COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout and The Impact of the Third Wave, in Abuja, Thursday.

Hear Ehanire: “However, we have begun to see a pandemic of two tracks - where the delta variant is tearing through unvaccinated populations”.

The health minister also said “Nigeria and most other African countries continue to suffer from the gross inequity in global vaccine access”.

According to Ehanire, the Delta variant was first detected two weeks ago. And thereafter, the virus has continued to spread as the ministry has identified rise in fresh cases.

He said “we have begun to see an increase in the number of new cases”.

He said “we will continue to suffer the devastating impact of this pandemic if the global inequitable rollout of vaccines is not addressed.

“The most at-risk – health workers, older populations and those with underlying conditions are unprotected in lower income countries, while richer countries are vaccinating those much less at risk and procuring booster shots.

The minister commended the efforts of the federal government and stakeholders in responding to the outbreak of the pandemic, saying Nigeria has continued to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the last 17 months.

“This has received the highest priority from our Government, with a Presidential Steering Committee leading the multi-sectoral response, while the Federal

Ministry of Health and its agencies such as NCDC and NPHCDA lead the health sector response”.

Noting the global rollout of vaccines, Ehanire appealed to vaccine manufacturers to make it easy for countries not only to have access to vaccines but also to share doses.

“We appeal to vaccine manufacturers to make it as easy as possible for countries to share doses and prioritise tech transfer agreements to expand global production.

“We witnessed the unfortunate surge in cases in India a few months ago and a similar surge is now being seen in most African countries.

“No country in the world is safe until every country is safe. We therefore call for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and other tools including diagnostics and therapeutics. We still have a window of opportunity to prevent further spread of the Delta variant and prevent the devastating impact it will bring to African countries.

“It is equally important that richer countries support the IP waiver and facilitate free movement of vital raw materials for vaccines to scale up production capacity.

“Therefore, we call on richer countries to share doses now with us, through existing mechanisms such as COVAX and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) managed by the Africa CDC. We thank the US and the UK who have shared doses through COVAX and the Africa CDC with Nigeria, and have made commitments for these doses to be delivered in the coming month”.

The minister also disclosed that Nigeria would receive her consignment of 3,924,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility before the end of the month.

He said “Before the end of the month, we will receive 3,924,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca from the COVAX facility. We are also expecting 3,930,910 doses of Pfizer-bio N tech, Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in August that was donated by the United States. Also, 29,859,000 doses of the Johnson &Johnson vaccines will arrive by the end of September.”

“We anticipate an increase in the volume of doses coming to Nigeria in the next three months and have begun to implement measures that create a balance between demand and supply.

“This includes scale up of our ultra cold chain capacity, risk communication and community engagement, training of health workers among others”.

However, amid alarming increase in the number of new cases some states in the country had stopped testing for COVID-19.

Our findings show that about 13 states had stopped testing for COVID-19, since the first case of the Delta variant was reported on July 8, 2021. The 13 states that have not sent any results to the NCDC in the last two weeks include Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Kogi, Niger, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states.

It was learnt from Epidemiological data by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that only about 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory had been sending reports to the NCDC.

The states that have been sending updates include Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and the FCT.

Further details as learnt by News Express show as follows: that the COVID-19 tests reduced from 735,573 to 521,738 in three months amid warning by the Federal Government that Delta variant was spreading among unvaccinated Nigerians.

The NCDC, on its website revealed that 735,573 tests were conducted between January 10 and April 11.

But between April 11 and July 11, 521,738 were conducted representing a reduction of 213,835 (29.08 per cent).

As of January 10, 1,121,484 COVID-19 tests had been conducted in the country while 1,857,057 tests were conducted as of April 11.

While 1,857,057 were conducted as of April 11, the figure rose to 2,378,795 on July 11.

Ehanire expressed appreciation for the support of the WHO in regard to vaccines distribution. Also, the minister commended NPHDA, in the same breath, saying: “The vaccination implementing NPHCDA has vast experience and routine from recently concluded Polio eradication campaign, using ICT tools for a smooth roll out. Infrastructure, especially cold chain, and precise distribution plan were ready well before vaccines arrived.”