Experts say a nation must vaccinate 70 per cent of its population to achieve herd immunity.
Amid the third wave of COVID-19 infections, only 1,416,623 Nigerians, representing 0.9 per cent of the country’s population, have been fully vaccinated against the deadly virus.
Experts say a nation must vaccinate 70 per cent of its population to achieve herd immunity.
The World Health Organisation, on its website, describes herd immunity as the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
However, the agency has yet to take a position on the percentage of vaccinations required for a country to be officially declared as having achieved COVID-19 herd immunity.
According to Punch, Nigeria is behind 157 countries around the world in the rate of vaccination against the deadly virus.
Worldwide figures provided by Google News based on data aggregated from Wikipedia, Johns Hopkins University and Our World in Data showed that 4,620,035,352 vaccines had been administered, while 1,257,545,210 (16.2 per cent) people were fully vaccinated.
The 10 countries topping the vaccination chart are Malta (81.3 per cent), Maldives (78.2 per cent), United Arab Emirates (73.7 per cent), Seychelles (70.2 per cent), Iceland (70.1 per cent), Singapore (70 per cent), Bahrain (69.2 per cent), San Marino (68.2 per cent), Chile (67.5 per cent), Uruguay (67.4 per cent), and Qatar (67.4 per cent).
As of 9.30pm on Friday, the total number of doses administered in Nigeria stood at 3,967,013, while the population of those who had received at least one dose of the vaccine was 2,550,390, representing 1.2 per cent of the country. Of that number, the population of fully vaccinated Nigerians was 1,416,623 (0.69 per cent).
According to Worldometer, which provides real-time statistics for diverse topics, Nigeria has a population of about 206,139,589.
In Africa, the second most populous nation, Ethiopia with 114,963,588 citizens, had given 2,302,496 vaccine doses, though no data was provided on the number of recipients of either one dose or full vaccination.
Egypt, with a population of 102,334,404, had administered 5,750,549 doses. A total of 3,883,927 Egyptians (3.9 per cent) had received at least one dose, while 1,866,622 (1.9 per cent) were fully vaccinated.
With a population of 31,072,940, Ghana had given 1,271,393 doses in total, with 865,422 (2.9 per cent) of its people having received at least one dose and 405,971 (1.3 per cent) fully vaccinated.
South Africa, with a population of 59,308,690, had administered 9,185,756 doses, and 7,249,045 (12.3 per cent), who had got at least one dose, including 3,958,231 (6.7 per cent) fully vaccinated.
In Kenya with a population of 53,771,296, a total of 1,922,085 doses had been administered to 1,192,418 (2.5 per cent) of its citizens, including 729,667 who were fully vaccinated.