Nigeria’ll by end of year start local manufacturing of vaccines -NAFDAC

BISIRIYU OLAOYE

Nigeria will start manufacturing its own COVID-19 and other vaccines by the end of this year, Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has disclosed.

Speaking on Tuesday with newsmen at the Agecy’s Isolo office in Lagos, Prof. Adeyeye also disclosed that various stakeholders have been meeting and working seriously to realize this dream.

“By the end of the year, we will start local manufacturing of vaccines. We have been meeting seriously to realize this. You know we have Nigerians that have been manufacturing veterinary vaccines for the past 75 years.

“On when we will start manufacturing our own COVID-19 vaccine, we are on it. Now the World Health Organization (WHO) has certified as a maturity three regulatory agency, by the end of the year, we will start manufacturing our own COVID-19 vaccine”, the NAFDAC boss stated.

Prof. Adeyeye also disclosed that the days of those cloning the NAFDAC registration number were numbered as the Agency had mapped out measures to nip the activities of such fraudsters in the bud.

According to her, apart from the trap and trace system the Agency has now, “we have technology to bring sanity to the situation. Through this technology, we will get to those cloning our number.

“Consumers have to be vigilant. The fact that a product is cheaper does not mean it is good. So, we are doing whatever we can on the protection of our number”, Adeyeye further said.

On herbal medicine, the NAFDAC Director-General stated the practitioners hve gone a long way since 2019, adding that the Agency “has been meeting with herbal medicine  researchers, and talking to them to sensitize them on how to protect information; Trade mark; and other proprietary information”.

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