NAFDAC caution against use of COVID-19 vaccines before approval
Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC), has warned that it has it not received any application from Covid-19 Vaccine manufacturers yet and therefore no vaccines have been approved by NAFDAC.
To this end, the agency advised Nigerians not to take any vaccine except the ones approved by the agency.
Speaking during a virtual news conference on Friday, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, expressed displeasure over reports making the round that some government agencies and private companies were already making plans to order the vaccines without its approval.
‘’There are reports of fake vaccines in Nigeria. NAFDAC is pleading with the public to beware. No Covid Vaccines have been approved by NAFDAC. Fake vaccines can cause Covid-like illnesses or other serious diseases that could kill.
‘’Vaccines should not be ordered by any company or corporation. The companies that manufacture the vaccines if they are genuine companies know they have to submit their application to NAFDAC’’, the NAFDAC boss said.
While explaining that the approval by the World Health Organisation for the emergency use of some of the vaccines was not enough, prof Adedeye said, such vaccines must be subject to NAFDAC approval before they could be administered in Nigeria.
“The WHO will say that unless the regulatory agency of a country approves a vaccine, it should not be used. WHO is not a regulatory agency that will approve and say use, they are there to guide and give regulatory agencies more confidence.
“If a product is already on WHO emergency use listing, the regulatory agency will still look at the application. That doesn’t mean we just pass it like that, we will have to read it within the context of our environment. No vaccine or commodity can be used unless it passes through NAFDAC in Nigeria.
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“Vaccines should not be ordered by any company or corporation. The companies that manufacture the vaccines if they are genuine companies know they have to submit their application to NAFDAC.
“No government establishment or agencies should order COVID-19 vaccines without confirming from NAFDAC if the vaccine has been approved’’, she added.
She said the agency was discussing with manufactures of candidate COVID-19 vaccines concerning potential Emergency Use Authorisation, registration or licensing of their product as the case may be.
‘’The Agency established COVID-19 Vaccine Committee that has been busy developing the guidelines and guidance. NAFDAC is the first National Regulatory Agency in Africa to have Guidance on Regulatory Preparedness for EUA, Licensing or Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
“The agency assures applicants that if phase three clinical data are very convincing and robust with regards to safety and efficacy and the vaccine has been submitted for WHO for Emergency Use Listing, NAFDAC will welcome the application for Emergency Use Authorisation in Nigeria,” Adeyeye said.
