Chidi Samuel| The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday approved the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Mojisola Adeyeye who made the disclosure during a live briefing, said the vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8-degree centigrade.
According to her, there are three additional vaccines undergoing evaluation, but the evaluation on Astrazeneca shows that the vaccine is effective against the UK variant of the virus which has been reported in Nigeria.
Dr Adeyeye disclosed that the South African variant has not been reported in Nigeria, adding that the agency has over 30 herbal medicine undergoing review for listing.
The health agency explained it got the dossier of the vaccine, approved by the W.H.O for emergency use a week ago, and the NAFDAC safety committee went to work immediately to evaluate its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, or AZD1222, is a viral vector vaccine. Scientists used an adenovirus, originally derived from chimpanzees, and modified it with the aim of training the immune system to mount a strong response against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).
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