Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, his deputy Yemi Osinbajo, as well as frontline health workers have been scheduled to receive the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility to the country, an official said on Thursday.

Faisal Shuaib, the executive director of the National Primarily Health Care Development Agency, which is coordinating the administering of vaccines in Nigeria, told reporters at a press briefing in Abuja that the frontline health workers would be vaccinated on Friday at the National Hospital, Abuja, while Buhari and Osinbajo would get their own shots on Saturday.

"The plan is to vaccinate the frontline health workers that work in the treatment center of the National Hospital," Shuaib said.

"After that, the plan is to vaccinate the president, vice president and strategic leaders on Saturday," he said.

The country on Tuesday received 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines, the much-awaited first batch of vaccines from the COVAX Facility.

It is the first of such shipments expected to be made to Nigeria in the efforts to control the spread of the COVID-19.

"We are hopeful that when Nigerians see leaders like the president and vice president take this vaccine, it will increase their confidence around the safety of the vaccines," Shuaib added.