FG Commences Construction Of 3 Mega Vaccine Hubs

The Federal Government has begun construction of three mega stores to fast track establishment of vaccine hubs in the country.

Dr Osagie Ehanire, minister of health said this at the ground breaking ceremony of the 3-Hub project on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the hub in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is one of the three mega stores planned for vaccine storage capacity at the national level in the country.

“Nigeria is a large country with a continuously increasing population coupled with the introduction of new and essential vaccines.

“This requires that we have sufficient storage space for vaccines and injection materials for efficient implementation of our immunisation programme,” he said.

According to Ehanire, each of the hubs is centralised to serve two geopolitical locations and decentralised to timely respond to increasing vaccine demands.

He said the FCT and Kano hubs were being funded by the Global Alliance for Vaccine initiative (GAVI), while the Lagos hub would be funded through a World Bank loan.

“The ground-breaking ceremony is a significant milestone of the system redesign journey.

“The hub project is in two states and the FCT,” he said.

Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said the hub would improve the immunisation logistics network and vaccine storage capacity amounting to 250 shipments per year.

Shuaib said the FCT, Lagos and Kano States would be having the structure for the storage and preservation of vaccines and other medical equipment needed for immunisation.

The 3-Hub project, he said, is an initiative led by NPHCDA to accommodate needed vaccines through 2035, adding that Lagos and Kano hubs would commence simultaneously with that of the FCT.