According to the (NCDC), as at 27 July 2021 Nigeria has recorded 171,324 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 2,134 deaths with a case fatality rate of 1.3% . Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO), as at 26 July 2021 reports that there have been 194,080,019 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 as well as 4,162,304 deaths. As a result of the fatality of the virus, pharmaceuticals such Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and a host of others tasked themselves with the goal of creating a vaccine to curb the spread of the coronavirus as well as reduce the fatality of the virus.
Vaccination is one of the wonders of modern medicine. It is a simple, safe and effective way of protecting the body from harmful diseases. Vaccines have played a huge role in ensuring that the fatality of diseases such as measles, chicken pox, tuberculosis and several others have reduced significantly.
As at July 5, 2021, a total of 3,832,459 doses of the vaccine had been administered in Nigeria. Globally, a total of 3,696,135,440 doses of the COVID vaccine had been administered as at July 26, 2021. The figures are not quite impressive especially considering Nigeria’s population of over 160 million people. This has sparked debate as to whether the state can mandate compulsory vaccination of citizens and the legal implication of such compulsion. In this paper we shall consider the legality of the COVID vaccine and whether the government can mandate compulsory vaccination of its citizens while also considering the provisions certain sections in Chapter four of the 1999 Constitution.
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