Nigeria\u2019s food and drug regulatory agency, NAFDAC, has approved the
\nOxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
NAFDAC boss, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, announced the approval at a news
\nconference in Abuja.<\/p>\n
She said that the NAFDAC Vaccine Committee commenced expedited review
\nimmediately the agency received the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
\ndossier from Serum Institute of India on February 10.<\/p>\n
She explained that the recommendation for the emergency use
\nauthorisation was based on rigorous scientific consideration.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Adeyeye noted that \u201cthe vaccine can be stored at two to
\neight-degree centigrade temperature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe active substance is manufactured and controlled by Serum Institute
\nof India Private Limited (SIIPL). A GMP certificate and<\/p>\n
a manufacturing licence issued by the India National Regulatory
\nAuthority (NRA) has been presented and found to be authentic and valid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe multidose (2 dose or 10 dose) vial is stored at 2 to 8 degree
\ncentigrade, one dose (0.5Ml) contains 5 x10) virus particles. On
\navailability stability, the applicant has proposed a drug product shelf
\nlife of six months.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn vaccine safety from the phases two and three conducted, COVISHIELD
\nwas found safe and well-tolerated in adults above 18 years of age,\u201d she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Adeyeye said that the focus was to use holistic approach for
\neffective immunisation, including delivery of the vaccines and
\nmonitoring of any adverse<\/p>\n
effects.<\/p>\n
She added that the multi-stakeholders technical working group had been
\nmeeting to address different issues, noting that the agency would use
\nits recently launched Med Safety App for Active Pharmacovigilance of the
\nvaccine.<\/p>\n
The director general, who added that NAFDAC would collaborate with
\nsister agencies on the task ahead, explained that \u201cthe App is free and
\ncan be downloaded by healthcare workers to monitor Adverse Drug Reaction
\n(ADR).\u201d<\/p>\n
She said three additional vaccines were currently undergoing evaluation,
\n\u201cbut the evaluation on AstraZeneca shows that the vaccine is effective
\nagainst the UK variant of the virus, which has been reported in
\nNigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to her, the South African variant has not been reported in
\nNigeria and that the agency has over 30 herbal medicines undergoing
\nreview for listing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-`9, or
\nAZD1222, is a viral vector vaccine. Scientists used an adenovirus,
\noriginally derived from chimpanzees, and modified it with the aim of
\ntraining the immune system to mount a strong response against SARS-CoV-2
\n(the virus that causes COVID-19).<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria is expected to get the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccines by
\nthe end of February.<\/p>\n
(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria\u2019s food and drug regulatory agency, NAFDAC, has approved the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use in Nigeria. NAFDAC boss, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, announced the approval at a news conference…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n