World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Nigeria has expressed interest to be part of the global solidarity trial of the vaccines being developed to combat COVID-19.
Speaking on Friday at the joint national briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, Fiona Braka, officer in charge, WHO Nigeria, said efforts are underway to start the process in the country.
Braka explained;
Nigeria has also expressed interest to be part of this solidarity trial and efforts are underway to start the process in Nigeria too.
Together with global health actors and partners, over the past week, WHO launched the access to COVID-19 tools ACT accelerator, a global collaboration to accelerate development for equitable access to new COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
She stated that more than 100 countries have joined the solidarity clinical trial, which was launched by WHO and some partners to help find an effective treatment for COVID-19.
Braka revealed that over 1,200 patients have been randomised from the first five countries to evaluate the “safety and efficacy of drug combinations”.
She also stressed that;
We do have the solidarity trial which is an international clinical trial to help find an effective treatment for COVID-19, launched by the WHO and partners. More than 100 countries have joined the solidarity trial and to date, over 1,200 patients have been randomized from the first five countries to evaluate the safety and efficacy of full drug and drug combinations.
The Officer in Charge noted that a total of 89 vaccines are being developed globally, including seven in clinical evaluation and several therapeutics in clinical trials.
She said the organisation is committed to ensuring that medicines and vaccines are shared equitably with all countries as they are being developed.
As of Friday, there is no known cure or vaccine for the disease yet.
