Nigeria planning COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing hub —Mamora

The Federal Government has restated its pledge to redress the issue of COVID-19 vaccine expiration and logistics by establishing a manufacturing hub in the country.

This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, on Thursday during an interview with AriseTV monitored by Ripples Nigeria.

Mamora’s assertion came in the wake of uproar due to media reports about the existence of expired COVID-19 vaccines.

Nonetheless, the Minister stated that this challenge would be effectively tackled because “the solution is for us to have our own vaccine manufacturing hub which will eliminate these challenges. The other solution is for us to have a predictable supply; that means anticipating regarding logistics. These are the major solutions.”

He also detailed how complex the process of vaccine production was, in response to the pandemic.

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“Vaccine production is a process that must happen methodically. the outbreak of covid-19 is what led to production taking place within a year; normally, it takes place in 10 years due to various clinical trials. The technology is complex which is why collaboration is needed.

“Some countries are being considered as vaccine manufacturing hubs in Africa and efforts are being made to ensure Nigeria is amongst the countries and it is a process we are committed to. Of course, there are challenges but we are on course because we don’t want to rely on donations indefinitely.”

Mamora also revealed the timeline for the country to achieve herd immunity via mass vaccinations in order to forestall further mutations of the virus.

“In a pandemic, what we aim to achieve is herd immunity with the vaccines because the longer the virus stays, the more we see mutations. This is why we are pushing our vaccine coverage of a minimum of 70% by the end of 2022 which will enable herd immunity.”

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