Nigeria has received four million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States today as the West African nation steps up efforts to battle a third wave of infections.

The doses, which came on two planes, were received by officials from the UN children agency UNICEF on behalf of Nigeria at the airport in the capital Abuja.

It was the second batch of vaccines to arrive in Nigeria after four million doses were delivered in March under the Covax scheme.

Covax was set up to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to low-income countries, and has already delivered more than eighty million doses to one hundred and twenty-nine territories.

Nigeria a home to some two hundred and ten million people used the four million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine received in March to start its nationwide inoculation programme.