• Logistics three times cost of procuring vaccines says PSN
• ‘Engage consultant public health pharmacists to reduce costs’
Nigerians yesterday decried the high cost of COVID-19 vaccines and asked for interventions to tame prices. Two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could cost as much as $28, while AstraZeneca goes for $8. x
Medical experts, who spoke to The Guardian, at the weekend, said immunising more than 200 million Nigerians could gulp over N2 trillion, as the Federal Government might require N921.2 billion to vaccinate 140 million people in one year.
Leading the call for downward review of vaccine cost is former Governor of Anambra State and Vice Presidential candidate in the 2019 national election, Mr. Peter Obi, who described the cost of the vaccines as “too high and should be brought down.”
South Africa has been especially hard hit. A mutant strain that local scientists said last week is 50 per cent more infectious, is ravaging the country. Hospitals are turning patients away, medical oxygen supply is stretched, and undertakers are struggling to cope with burials. More than 40,500 deaths related to Covid-19 have been reported so far.
The South African government has set a target to have two-thirds of its 60 million people inoculated, but it has yet to secure the 80 million doses scientists say would be needed to achieve this. The state has committed to purchasing 12 million doses through Covax, the global initiative to secure vaccines for poorer countries.
• Lawan insists on product review before usage
Medical experts have warned that the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, which is 70 per cent more contagious, could affect effectiveness of current vaccines. The fresh disease has shown face in United Kingdom and a couple of other nations.
To avert putting the entire national immunisation programme in jeopardy, they advised the Federal Government to prioritise local production of the therapy.
This comes as President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, charged the Federal Government to ensure thorough product review before consumption.
He made the call yesterday at a meeting between the Senate leadership and top officials of the Ministry of Health over the cure in Abuja.
• 1,516 cases, 13 deaths reported among healthcare workers
Despite assurances by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, that the country would receive some doses of the approved COVID-19 vaccines in January 2021, more reasons have emerged why Nigeria and other poor countries will have to wait months or even years to be able to access the vaccines.
Researchers at Duke University, North Carolina, United States, believe there would not be enough vaccines produced for the whole world until as late as 2024.
The people in 10 major economies – United Kingdom (U.K.), United States (U.S.), Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, Sweden, and United Arab Emirates– will be able to access Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by this week but Nigerians may not be able to get the vaccine due to a funding gap of $28.2 billion (N14.1 trillion).