The Federal Government says only about three per cent of Nigeria’s population has been vaccinated against COVID-19 largely due to poor access to the vaccine by developing countries.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said this in Madrid, Spain at the 24th General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
In a statement issued on the event, Mohammed warned that lack of vaccination by developing countries would provide a fertile ground for the COVID-19 virus to mutate, thus threatening the progress already recorded even in the developed countries.
The statement was made available to the media by Mr Segun Adeyemi, Special Assistant to the President (Media), Office of the Minister of Information and Culture.
As contained in the statement, the minister was speaking against the background of the latest mutation (Omicron) of the COVID-19 virus, which had triggered a wave of travel bans on some countries in Africa.
He said whereas most developed countries had already vaccinated 60 per cent and above of their population, most developing countries were currently below five per cent.
“My country Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, has just vaccinated only about three per cent of our population,” he said.