National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has approved the use of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 in Nigeria.
NAFDAC’s approval comes a few months after it gave a nod for the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines.
Read Also: COVID-19: Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Effective Against UK, South African Variants, Study Shows
The announcement was made at agency headquarters in Lagos state on Friday by NAFDAC Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye.
According to her, the approval given was not a full one but it would be in effect within the period of getting people vaccinated and gathering data about the adverse effects following immunisation.
The NAFDAC boss also revealed that the agency relied on a more mature regulatory body for its approval, adding that that the agency was at liberty to review its stance since World Health Organisation had given emergency use listing.
Adeyeye said;
The purpose of the press briefing is to announce that NAFDAC has just approved Pfizer-BionTech vaccines for possible use in Nigeria. They were reviewed carefully by the NAFDAC staff COVID-19 vaccine committee to make sure that the science behind the development is well understood and in accord with our world regulatory activities.
She added;
We used different mechanisms to approve the vaccine. We used reliance, meaning that a more mature regulatory agency across the globe, we can use that as a basis for our review. We will get the assessment report, know the peculiarity there, then our COVID-19 committee will get to do their job.
Earlier in March, Nigeria received 3.9 million doses of Astranezeneca jabs and flagged off the vaccination exercise during an event organized by National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in Abuja.
Read Also: Breaking: First Batch Of Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Arrives Nigeria (Photos)
Medical doctor, Ngong Cyprian, the first person to take the vaccine in Nigeria, expressed;
I think that is about the best news we’ve heard since. I only wished my dad had had this vaccine, maybe months ago or so. We lost him but we thank God, and the fight is still on and we will win.
According to the health agency, over one million doses of the vaccine have so far been administered across the country in the first phase of the vaccination programme.
Over 160,000 Covid infections and more than 2,000 associated deaths have been recorded in the country in the last one year, according to statistics by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
While many countries had stopped the use of AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of a blood clot, NPHCDA was quick to douse fears, saying those who took the vaccines in the country only experienced mild side effects.
The agency added;
While the mild reactions include body pains and swelling, the moderate to severe adverse events presented were fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, and allergic reactions.
To ensure the availability of the vaccines, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, said the Nigerian government is expecting about 29.8 million doses of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 jab.
He said the government signed off to receive the vaccines through the African Union (AU), while vaccine deliveries through the COVAX facility were expected by the end of May or early June.
