THE National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has launched a registration portal in preparation for the receipt of 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday.

The Electronic Management of Immunization Data (EMID) portal was created to capture the data of Nigerians in order to facilitate COVID 19 schedules, NPHCDA said on the website.

The agency said that registering on the website would make “vaccination easier and faster” for Nigerians willing to be vaccinated against the deadly virus.

While there are concerns for many Nigerians who might be unable to register on the website due to lack of access to the internet, the NPHCDA said that such persons would not be sidelined in the vaccination.

Mohammed Ohitoto, spokesperson for the NPHCDA, told The ICIR in a telephone interview that there were already processes in place to ensure that no one was sidelined in the vaccination process.

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“If you do not have the capacity to access, there is an assisted E-registration and if you do not have that too, there is the concomitant registration during vaccination.

“You can be registered right there at the point of vaccination. However, to make your vaccination easier you can register before that time,” Ohitoto said.

He also added that there would be vaccination centres across all local government of the federation to give access to Nigerians wishing to be vaccinated.

A joint statement earlier issued by NPHCDA, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) had disclosed that the arrival of the vaccine would kick-start vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with the frontline healthcare workers.

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Faisal Shuaib, executive secretary of the NPHCDA, also noted that the agency had commenced the training of health workers for the vaccination.

“We are fully prepared to receive and deliver the vaccine to eligible Nigerians as we have commenced the training of health workers and ensured that cold chain facilities are ready at all levels,” Shuaib said.

Lukman ABOLADE

Investigative Reporter at International Centre for Investigative Reporting | Author Page

Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94