• Any COVID-19 vaccine not through government channels should be considered as counterfeit, say experts
• Guild of Medical Directors, security experts call for robust surveillance to check fake COVID-19 vaccines
• Want NAFDAC to test all batches of COVID-19 vaccines
Three days after Nigeria began vaccination for coronavirus, there are concerns that fake and illegal COVID-19 vaccines may soon flood the Nigerian market if the Federal Government did not tackle the situation urgently. x
The anxiety was heightened, last week, when the global police organization, Interpol Police, in China and South Africa reportedly seized thousands of fake doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, warning this represented only the “tip of the iceberg” in vaccine-related crime.
Govt to get 3.92m instead of promised 16m doses, says WHO, UNICEF, NPHCDA
After shifting the goal post from January ending to late February and then March, the Federal Government says it will take delivery of 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow, March 2. x
A statement on February 1 by the National Primary Health Care Development (NPHCDA) had stated that Nigeria would receive 16 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines before the end of February, which would replace the initial 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech approved vaccines expected in the country.
However, NPHCDA, World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in a joint statement, yesterday, said tomorrow’s delivery would mark the first arrival of COVID-19 vaccine in the country and make Nigeria the next West African country to benefit from the COVAX Facility after Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to end until there is the global roll-out of vaccines that protect against the severe disease and preferably drives herd immunity. In this report by Sade Oguntola, experts speak on some challenges to roll-out if the vaccine in Nigeria and its implication on the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to end until there is global roll-out of vaccines that protect against severe disease and preferably drives herd immunity. Regulators in numerous countries have authorised or approved COVID-19 vaccines for human use, with more expected to be licensed in 2021.
‘Herd immunity’, also known as ‘population immunity’, is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
• Delay in deploying vaccines causes virus to mutate
• South Africa was smart to do clinical trials, Says Agwale
• 75% doses deployed in only 10 countries
• 130 countries yet to administer single dose
Unlike South Africa and some developed nations, Nigeria lacks the capacity to conduct clinical trials on COVID-19 vaccines.
Chairman, Expert Review Committee on COVID-19 and a consultant virologist, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, told The Guardian yesterday his committee and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) could only test for safety and not efficacy of food and drugs to be used in the country. x
Reacting to report that Nigeria was waiting to receive 16 million doses of same vaccines that South Africa had halted and the question on whether Nigeria could conduct clinical trials like S.A to ascertain the potency of vaccine before administering it, Tomori said the country had neither the capability nor the facil
• Experts say FG must conduct clinical trials on jab
• Nigeria to isolate, confirm S’Africa strain of virus
Nigeria’s plan to vaccinate 30 per cent of citizens against COVID-19 this year could be delayed for scrutiny, after South Africa paused its rollout of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine.
The South African move had followed a study, which showed that the vaccine offered reduced protection from the COVID-19 variant first identified in the country. South Africa’s Minister of Health, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, said the hold would be temporary as scientists tried to figure out how to most effectively deploy the vaccine.