The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has certified the AstraZeneca vaccine safe for use in Nigeria.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency disclosed this on its Twitter handle, on Friday.
“After undergoing final assessment by NAFDAC, we have confirmation that they have concluded their final checks with positive results.Nigeria can now go ahead and use the 3.924m doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.
#YesToCOVID19Vaccine,” the tweet read.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, at an event held at the National Hospital in Abuja on Friday explained that the government agency cleared the vaccine for use in the country after it concluded its final test on it.
“The long-awaited day is here on which Nigerians can now join others in the global community to be vaccinated against the dreaded COVID-19 virus.
“For us in the health sector, it is a relief and the marking of the start of a tedious but hopeful exercise to see our fellow citizens develop immunity against this virus,” he told the gathering at the event.
Ehanire added, “I am also relieved again to announce that at 12 minutes past midnight today (Friday), I got a text message informing me that NAFDAC has certified this vaccine for use, otherwise we will not be sitting here today.”
Amid the rising figure of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fight against the outbreak received a major boost on Tuesday as Nigeria took delivery of its first batch of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX, a World Health Organisation (WHO)-backed initiative set up to procure and ensure equitable distribution of vaccines for free among countries across the world.
The first shipment of 3,924,000 doses of the vaccines arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Tuesday afternoon via an Emirates airplane from India.
