FG explains why Nigeria cannot manufacture covid-19 vaccines

The Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, has explained why Nigeria cannot produce its own covid-19 vaccines.

Mr Shuaib, while speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Monday, said the process of producing a vaccine is complex.

“There are questions around why Nigeria is not producing COVID-19 vaccines. I want to put on record that the process of producing a vaccine is very complex and complicated. It requires massive investment that has not been done for many decades,” he said.

Read also: 42 countries rolled out COVID-19 vaccines – WHO

Mr Faisal noted that Nigeria used to produce vaccines in the 1960s, but failed due to the decision to adopt more advanced technologies.

“In the 1960s, we use to make yellow fever vaccines in this country. In the 90s, we decided to change analogue ways of making yellow fever vaccines to more recent technologies.

“However, that transfer of technology never happened and that is why we did not continue to make vaccines,” Mr Shuaib said.

He, however, expressed optimism that Nigeria will start producing its own vaccine as there are “genuine ongoing efforts by the federal government to restart the process of vaccines production.”

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