Moses Ofodeme
The Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, on Tuesday, January 12, said that complexity in production process could hamper attempts by Nigeria to produce its own COVID-19 vaccines.
Mr Shuaib, while speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing; said the process of producing a vaccine is complex.
“There are questions around why Nigeria is not producing COVID-19 vaccines. I want to put on record that the process of producing a vaccine is very complex and complicated. It requires massive investment that has not been done for many decades,” he said.
Mr Faisal noted that Nigeria used to produce vaccines in the 1960s; but failed due to the decision to adopt more advanced technologies.
“In the 1960s, we use to make yellow fever vaccines in this country. In the 90s, we decided to change analogue ways of making yellow fever vaccines to more recent technologies.
“However, that transfer of technology never happened; and that is why we did not continue to make vaccines,” Mr Shuaib said.