NAFDAC approves use of Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC) has approved the use of Pfizer covid-19 vaccines in Nigeria.

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the NAFDAC Director-General made this known on Friday in a live/zoom media briefing in Lagos.

Adeyeye said: “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 the vaccine was approved based on different mechanisms known to the agency.

“We used different mechanisms to approve COVID-19 vaccine, and one of it is called reliance, meaning that a more matured regulatory agency across the globe has already approved such vaccine.

“We can use that as a basis for our own review by getting the assessment report, know the peculiarities and our COVID Vaccine Committee will then do their job.

Read also: NAFDAC to ensure due diligence over COVID-19 vaccines, allays fears

“We also can go ahead to review, if the World Health Organisation (WHO) has given emergency use lifting, meaning they have done their job.

“For Pfizer biotech vaccine, both cases are through, because more matured agencies have approved the vaccine.

“The approval is not a full approval, it is within the period of getting people vaccinated and gathering of data about the adverse effect following immunisation,” she said.

On the storage of the Pfizer Biotech Vaccine, Adeyeye said 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,” she said.

Ripples Nigeria had reported in March that the NAFDAC DG disclosed that the AstraZeneca vaccine distributed to various countries has no side effects.

Adeyeye had said that the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweighs the risk, as it has already been scrutinized.

By Mayowa Oladeji…

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