The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, has announced additional $10.6 million in development assistance for the goals outlined in a 2021 bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Nigerian governments.

Most of the new funding will finance boosting COVID-19 vaccination efforts to reach targets of 600,000 people a day.

The funds will also support integrating COVID-19 vaccinations into routine immunization and primary health care systems, state-level data collection and analytics, health worker training, and expansion of vaccination access points at the community level.

“Given the significant progress Nigeria has made, we are pleased to provide more funds to improve COVID-19 vaccine delivery services,” USAID Mission Director, Anne Patterson, said in a statement.

“These new funds will deepen our support for all levels of government to meet their vaccination targets,” USAID noted.

This funding increases the total U.S. assistance to the Nigerian people to $179 million under the five-year $2.1 billion Development Objectives Assistance Agreement signed between USAID and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning as affirmed by the U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during his visit to Nigeria in November 2021.