Nigeria’s NAFDAC approves AstraZeneca vaccine to fight COVID-19

The Nigerian government, through its National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday announced that it had approved the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines in its bid to contain and combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was announced by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Mojisola Adeyeye during a live briefing on Thursday, adding that the vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8-degree centigrade.

Speaking further, Professor Adeyeye said three other vaccines are currently undergoing evaluation, adding that the evaluation on Astrazeneca shows that the vaccine is effective against the UK variant of the virus which has been reported in Nigeria.

Read also: Fake COVID-19 vaccines now in circulation, NAFDAC raises the alarm

Adeyeye, who also disclosed that the South African variant has not been reported in Nigeria, said the agency has over 30 herbal medicine undergoing review for listing.

It would be recalled that the vaccine was recently approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use.

At the press briefing, NAFDAC said it got the dossier of the vaccine a week ago, and that the NAFDAC safety committee went to work immediately to evaluate its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.

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