COVID-19 Vaccines Must Be Approved Before Use – NAFDAC DG

• Nigeria is expecting a delivery of 100,000 vaccines at the end of January
• The WHO granted emergency approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine late last year which signalled procurement by many countries in Europe

The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, has warned against using any COVID-19 vaccine that hasn’t been approved by the agency.

At a press briefing on Friday, Adeyeye said the World Health Organisation’s approval was not enough for the use of the vaccine, except the regulatory agency certifies the vaccine safe for use.

Read also: COVID-19 Vaccine: There Might Be No Need For Clinical Trials – NAFDAC

She said, “The WHO will say that unless the regulatory agency of a country approves a vaccine, it should not be used. WHO is not a regulatory agency that will approve and say use, they are there to guide and give regulatory agencies more confidence.

“If a product is already on WHO emergency use listing, the regulatory agency will still look at the application. That doesn’t mean we just pass it like that, we will have to read it within the context of our environment. No vaccine or commodity can be used unless it passes through NAFDAC in Nigeria.”

She also insisted that vaccines should not be ordered by any company or corporation, adding that genuine companies know they have to submit an application to NAFDAC.

Adeyeye, however, revealed that the agency was discussing with manufacturers of candidate COVID-19 vaccines concerning potential Emergency Use Authorisation, registration or licensing of their product as the case may be.