National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria has on Thursday approved the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use in the country.
Speaking at a press conference this morning February 18, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency got dossier of the vaccine a week ago.
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She expressed that NAFDAC safety committee went to work immediately to evaluate its safety and efficacy for Nigerians, hence the approval given.
Adeyeye said that the vaccine, which was recently approved by WHO for emergency use, can be stored at 2 to 8-degree centigrade.
According to the DG, there are three additional vaccines undergoing evaluation, but the evaluation on Astrazeneca shows that the vaccine is effective against the UK variant of the virus which has been reported in Nigeria.
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She disclosed that the South African variant has not been reported in Nigeria and that the agency has over 30 herbal medicine undergoing review for listing.
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, or AZD1222, is a viral vector vaccine.
Scientists used an adenovirus, originally derived from chimpanzees, and modified it with the aim of training the immune system to mount a strong response against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).
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Nigeria is expected to get the first batch of the COVID19 vaccines by the end of February.
