Africa lags behind the rest of the world on vaccine rollout and accounts for less than 2% of all COVID-19 vaccines administered worldwide – countries like Britain have given almost half of the population the first dose compared to South Africa, where only 0.4% of the population has received one jab.

And with more than 160,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and upwards of 2,000 deaths, Nigeria is the second-worst-hit African country by the COVID-19 pandemic — behind only South Africa.

Already frail public health systems have buckled further under the weight of the pandemic, with the most recent impact being a doctors' strike. 

Nigeria's 200 million people have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with high unemployment rates, inflation, and ongoing insecurity in various parts of the country. 

Evidently, it is critical that the country works toward ending the pandemic by vaccinating as much of its population as soon as possible — the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends 60% to 70% COVID-19 vaccine coverage worldwide to control and eventually end the pandemic. 

The situation largely mirrors the challenges with vaccine rollout which the rest of Africa will be working to overcome in the fight to end the pandemic.

Here are six things you should know about how Nigeria is distributing the COVID-19 vaccine:

1. Which vaccines are currently available in Nigeria? 

The AstraZeneca Vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine in use in Nigeria at the moment.

Nigeria has received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX — a programme co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, along with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) — to ensure equitable vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries.

The available Vaccine in Nigeria is safe for use. Before a vaccine is certified for use, it must receive approval from WHO. Here, in Nigeria, in addition to WHO approval, all vaccines including #COVID19 vaccine are certified safe for use by NAFDAC. #YesToCOVID19Vaccinepic.twitter.com/qJ6Hfsqv6q

— NPHCDA (@NphcdaNG) April 12, 2021

Nigeria is also expecting another 40 million vaccine doses from the African Union (AU) to be delivered by the end of April, said government official Tolu Ogunlesi. 

The AU recently concluded a deal with Johnson & Johnson to secure 400 million doses of its single-dose jab starting in July 2021, and Faisal Shuaib, who heads Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) told Reuters that the Nigerian government is hoping to secure 70 million doses of those vaccines.

The NPHCDA is the government agency directly responsible for distributing the COVID-19 vaccines around the country. 

2. How many doses of the COVID-19 vaccine does Nigeria have?

Nigeria has received around 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine out of the 16 million COVID-19 vaccine doses it expects from COVAX. The remaining doses are expected to be delivered in the coming months. 

It has also received a donation of 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from telecommunication company MTN and another 100,000 doses from the Indian government.

Nigeria formally received 100,000 doses of #COVID19 vaccine donated by the Indian Government. It was presented by the Acting Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Velagaleti Surendra to the FGN 🇳🇬 at the weekly Press Briefing, yesterday.#YesToCOVID19Vaccinepic.twitter.com/ocPdF44W1g

— NPHCDA (@NphcdaNG) April 7, 2021

3. Who can get the COVID-19 vaccine right now? 

Frontline health care workers, government officials, contact tracing teams, and the elderly are first in line to get the jab.

“The vaccine rollout will be in four phases, starting with health workers, frontline workers, COVID-19 rapid response team, laboratory network, policemen, petrol station workers, and strategic leaders,” said Shuaib in March.

4. How can Nigerians get the vaccine? 

Eligible Nigerians can get the vaccine by registering on the NPHCDA website, after which they will receive a vaccination ID. 

However, NPHCDA also says that its vaccine rollout plans are still in the first phase, which it says is all about prioritising health and frontline workers across the country, suggesting that vaccination is not open to the rest of the public just yet. 

“The current phase (phase one) of vaccination covers health workers and other frontline workers; but with the health workers given priority ahead of the others. The frontline workers include personnel from sectors such as the military, paramilitary and other security agencies, transportation and logistics, communications, education, religious, finance, relevant government agencies,” it said in a statement.

5. How many people have gotten the vaccine? 

Just under a million Nigerians — less than 1% of the population — have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of April 6, according to data from NPHCDA.

The commercial city of Lagos, which has recorded the highest number of cases in Nigeria (more than 57,000), has also vaccinated the most people — just over 164,000 people out of its 20 million residents. 

6. Is Nigeria distributing vaccines equitably? 

It's hard to tell — the government is yet to describe how it plans to vaccinate 70% of Nigerians by 2022.

“Our target is to vaccinate 100% of the eligible population. We plan that within the first year, we should be able to vaccinate up to 70% of the population and by the second year, vaccinate the remaining 30%,” Shuaib told CNBC in an interview. 

However, it is unclear how the government plans to achieve these figures with nearly half the doctors in the country currently on strike, and as the government has only been able to secure vaccine doses through multilateral bodies like COVAX and the AU, it has to compete with other low-income countries for limited doses as global supply struggles to meet demand. 

There is also no information on how the government is identifying the most vulnerable Nigerians to prioritise, as the country has historically struggled with a lack of data. 

Furthermore, the online registration requirement for vaccination excludes more than half of the Nigerian population, who do not have access to an internet connection.  

"I am very happy to be the first health worker to be vaccinated against COVID-19 but I will be happier if we get a herd immunity against COVID-19 by vaccinating at least 70% of the Nigerian population," said Dr. Cyprian Ngong, the first person to receive the jab in Nigeria, at the vaccine rollout ceremony. 

This article was written in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a funding partner of Global Citizen.

As part of the Recovery Plan for the World campaign, Global Citizen is calling on world leaders to support vaccine equity in several ways, including calls to donate excess vaccines tdoses to lower-income countries. You can join the campaign by taking action here.