The federal government yesterday foreclosed access to the
Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine it received on Tuesday to states without
adequate security at their cold stores.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health
Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said states yet to fulfill
stipulated conditions for benefitting from the vaccines would not get the
vaccines.
He spoke as the federal government firmed up preparations for
distributing the vaccine to states ahead of the vaccination, expected to begin
tomorrow with the immunisation of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss
Mustapha, among other dignitaries, billed to be televised live to assure people
of the safety of the vaccine.
The governors of the 36 states also rose from a meeting
yesterday in Abuja and adopted the earlier outline by the NPHCDA for the
distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
In addition, they agreed that all of them with their deputies will take the
COVID-19 vaccines on March 9 in their respective states.
The federal government also said the country had at least two
vaccine candidates but no resources for clinical trial phases.
Shuaib told reporters in Abuja that the federal government decided not to send
vaccine to the states that have not fulfilled all of the criteria to ensure
safety of the vaccine.
He said: “For example, we have communicated to the states that
they have to wrap up their security around their cold stores because these are
very valuable vaccines and we do not want a situation where vaccines are taken
to the states and criminal elements take advantage to vandalise these cold
stores.
“We are also aware that during the #EndSARS vandalism, there
were some cold stores that actually suffered. I know that the state governors
are trying to fix those, but we have to verify that those are ready to receive
our vaccines.”
According to him, the federal government’s team is working with states, having
conversation with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to hasten the vaccination of
Nigerians.
Shuaib, at the second edition of State House weekly media
briefing, which focused on Nigeria’s Response to COVID-19 pandemic, added that
Buhari and Osinbajo may receive the COVID-19 vaccine jab publicly tomorrow, if
it is certified safe by today by the National Agency for Food and Drugs and
Administration Control (NAFDAC).
He said Buhari and Osinbajo would receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19
vaccine after the vaccination of some frontline health workers today.
“After we are able to get our strategic leaders to publicly
demonstrate that these vaccines are safe, the plan is to now go to the state
level to start the launch at the treatment centres of the states and also get
strategic leaders such as governors to publicly take the vaccines.
“By the time all of these happen, we will have finished all of
the necessary preparations; we will have created a dashboard that will track
very carefully the status of the preparedness of the states,” he added.
On his part, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, assured the
people that Nigeria is not relying only on charity for the supply of vaccines
but has opened an account with Afreximbank, from where Nigeria is expecting to
get between 80 and 85 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines out of the 370 million
doses to be acquired for Africa.
“We are not just depending on charity. Right from the time the
idea of vaccine production came up, the World Health Organisation, GAVI, – the
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, have been normally supporting
Nigeria, in financing routine vaccines.
“So, therefore, if we can gather resources and make substantial bulk orders, in
fact, not only that, if we support certain vaccine developers to complete their
trials, by paying for some of their trials, we can have priority to get the
vaccines first and give to the countries that we normally support.
“GAVI has been supporting us normally and supporting many
countries. So, this is just an extension of the support that they normally give
and that support they limited to 20% of population. So, that support is to 92
countries, low and middle income countries.
“There are 98 other countries that belong to this facility,
which has self-financing countries, they have the money to pay, they will pay
more than they need, but they have small orders and small orders may not
necessarily make an impact on the producer. So they join this facility too.
Take a country like Norway with relatively small population, they compete so
they add donation and pay for themselves instead of asking for a small order,
so you have a bulk order.
“Therefore, if we all come together, as an African country, we
can make order. So, 52 countries in Africa came together. Equatorial Guinea,
Seychelles and Gabon said, don’t worry, we can make our own arrangements. Out
of 55, 52 came together and joined in the AVATT – Africa Vaccine Acquisition
Task Team, to make a bulk order.
“And the first bulk order they made was for 270 million doses,
which immediately will impress any manufacturer,” he added.
Ehanire stated that the country has at least two Nigerian-made vaccines but no
resources for clinical trials.
According to him, the government is forced to look elsewhere to solicit support
for the local vaccine whose trials could take a year.
“The question will arise, what about domestic Nigerian-made
vaccines? Yes, there are Nigerian researchers who are also in the vaccine space.
“We have at least two vaccine candidates in Nigeria but they need a lot of
resources to go through the clinical trial phases. So, we are trying to look
for the resources to support them in doing that.
“And until that is done, which will take at least a year, we are
not yet directly going to be in that game,” he stated.
He added that the federal government is also considering partnership with other
vaccine companies to produce their vaccines in Nigeria under licence.
“We have a vaccine production company called Biovaccines Nigeria
Limited, owed 49 per cent by the federal government, which is looking to
partner other vaccine producers and perhaps produce under licence here if the
technology transfer discussions go through.
“So we have the possibility of not only using indigenously produced but also
vaccines that come here as a result of technology transfer,” Ehanire said.
He added that the federal government plans to provide 10-bed
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in every state as part of strategies to provide
critical response to the pandemic.
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Health will develop as a matter of
urgency the nation’s emergency medical service to respond to persons with
medical distress.
Also, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the
agency would soon commence a ‘track and trace’ exercise.
She stated that this was to mitigate and potentially halt the infiltration of
falsified and sub-standard COVID-19 vaccines already detected in the global
supply chain.
Adeyeye added that indigenous software is also being employed to
check the authenticity of received products.
According to her, NAFDAC is collaborating with the Ministry of Health and the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to ensure safe monitoring of
medicines in the market.
Governors Adopt NPHCDA Sharing Outline, to Take Vaccine March 9
The governors of the 36 states yesterday adopted the earlier
outline by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) for the
distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
They also agreed to take the COVID-19 vaccine, along with their deputies on
March 9 in their respective states.
Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, told
reporters after the governors’ meeting that other modalities adopted by the
governors on the COVID-19 vaccination included giving priority to frontline
health workers and the elderly.
Fayemi, who is Ekiti State governor, said the governors agreed
to adopt the protocol provided by the NPHCDA but the details would officially
be released after the results of the testing by NAFDAC, which he described as a
mere formality as it has passed through all laboratory test by the World Bank.
According to him, the governors will go back to their states to
continue with the sensitisation of the populace by assuring them of the safety
of the vaccine.
Answering a question on whether the vaccine is valid for those
who had earlier taken the Moderna version, Fayemi said for now what is official
is the version from Pfizer India.
Though, the NPHCDA outline for the distribution of the vaccine is not
officially out, THISDAY obtained a copy from the agency office.
According
to the data shared by NPHCDA, Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi and Oyo will
receive more doses for health workers.
The breakdown is as follows: Kano, 3,557; Lagos, 3,131; Katsina, 2,361; Kaduna,
2,074; Bauchi, 1,900; Oyo, 1,848; Rivers, 1,766; Jigawa, 1,712; Niger, 1,558;
Ogun, 1,473; Sokoto, 1,468; Benue, 1,423; Borno, 1,416; Anambra, 1,379; Kebbi,
1,268; Zamfara, 1,336; Delta, 1,306; Imo, 1,267; Ondo, 1,228; Akwa Ibom, 1,161.
Others are: Adamawa, 1,129; Edo, 1,104; Plateau, 1,089; Enugu, 1,088; Osun,
1,032; Kogi, 1,030; Cross River, 1,023; Abia, 955; Gombe, 908; Yobe, 842;
Ekiti, 830; Taraba, 830; Kwara, 815; Ebonyi, 747; Bayelsa, 589; FCT, 695 and
Nasarawa, 661.
No comments:
Post a Comment