USAID Announces Additional $10.6m to Boost COVID-19 Vaccination in Nigeria

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The United States has announced an additional $10.6 million to finance the boosting of COVID-19 vaccination efforts to reach a target of 600,000 people daily.

A statement on Thursday by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said the funds will also support integrating COVID-19 vaccinations into routine immunization and primary health care systems, state level data collection and analytics, health worker training and expansion of vaccination access points at the community level.

The statement said the additional $10.6 million in development assistance is to continue support for the goals outlined in a 2021 bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Nigerian governments.

The USAID Mission Director, Anne Patterson, was quoted to have said: “Given the significant progress Nigeria has made, we are pleased to provide more funds to improve COVID-19 vaccine delivery services. These new funds will deepen our support for all levels of government to meet their vaccination targets.”

The statement said the funding increases the total U.S. assistance to the Nigerian people to $179 million under the five-year $2.1 billion Development Objectives Assistance Agreement signed between USAID and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning as affirmed by the  U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during his visit to Nigeria in November 2021.