UPDATED: Why NAFDAC Approved Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine For Use In Nigeria

By Royal Ibeh

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it has approved the use of Pfizer-BioTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Nigeria.

The director-general of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who disclosed this on Friday, during a virtual meeting, explained that the vaccine was for emergency use authorisation.

According to her, a review of the vaccine is possible pending information gathering from the usage.

“We have approved Pfizer BioTech Vaccine for possible use in the country. Our COVID-19 vaccine team must carefully review it to make sure that the science behind it is well understood, and also in accordance with our own regulation,” she said.

Adeyeye explained that the vaccine was approved based on different mechanisms known to the agency while noting that the approval was not a full approval but within the period of getting people vaccinated and gathering data about the possible adverse effect following immunisation.

The DG stated that data gathering on vaccines was not limited to NAFDAC, saying that the agency belonged to an organisation called the International Coalition of Medicine Regulatory Authorities( ICMRA).

“We belong to ICMRA, which is a global gathering of regulatory agencies across the country, where we share our experiences, like that of Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine,” she said.

On storage, the DG said that the country has what it takes to store the vaccine effectively.

“We have the capability because the freezer temperature is now -30 degrees unlike when it was -80 to -60 degrees temperature. So, the storage is not an issue in Nigeria,” Adeyeye explained.

She also informed that the agency was reviewing the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for COVID-19.

Read the original story on Leadership.