The Spanish Embassy in Nigeria says it has donated 4.4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the federal government to contain the spread of COVID-19.

This is contained in a statement signed by the embassy and titled “No one will be safe until we are all safe”.

It said it donated the vaccines in line with the Spanish government’s unconditional defence of fair, equitable, and universal access to vaccines against COVID-19.

The mission explained that the ceremony to hand over the vaccines took place on the premises of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), with the support of UNICEF.

According to the embassy, the donation makes Spain the third donor of COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria.

It said it was the largest Spain had given to a single country in Africa so far.

The donation also positions Spain as the seventh-largest donor of vaccines globally, with 70 million doses delivered so far.

The embassy said that Faisal Shuaib, the Chief Executive Officer of NPHCDA, at the handover ceremony urged Nigerian citizens to ensure that they received the jabs.

The embassy further said that the Spanish Ambassador, Juan Sell underscored the importance of reaching every Nigerian citizen and every remote corner of the world if the pandemic were to be contained.

“We have to strengthen primary health systems, and we must improve global mechanisms for technology transfer to decentralise the production of health products in all regions, particularly in Africa.

“In that sense, the President of the Government of Spain announced at the recent Global Summit against COVID-19 that Spain will donate 300 million dollars for an additional 30 million COVID-19 vaccines and for the strengthening of public health systems.”

This will be done “through projects related to COVID-19, which will be implemented by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.”

(NAN)