The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria, NAFDAC, has approved the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine in Nigeria.
During a recent press conference, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed that the agency received the dossier of the vaccine some days ago, and that NAFDAC safety committee immediately took steps in evaluating its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.
The DG said that the vaccine can be stored within the temperature range of 2 to 8 degree centigrade. According to her, three other vaccines are undergoing evaluation but AstraZeneca’s evaluation reveals that the vaccine is effective against the UK variant of the virus that has been discovered in Nigeria. She made it known that the South African variant has not been discovered in Nigeria and that more than 30 herbal medicine is being reviewed bynthe agency for listing.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, or AZD1222, happens to be a viral vector vaccine that was modified by scientists with the aim of training the immune system to fight SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).
As expected, Nigeria will get the first batch of the COVID19 vaccines by the end of February, 2020.
