By Haruna Gimba
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says Nigeria has vaccinated about 8,000 people across the country with the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Executive Director of the agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib disclosed during the media briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 in Abuja.
“Presently, over 8,000 Nigerians have received the vaccines and we expect that the number should increase in the days to come so that we can have effective protection against the virus in the country,” he said.
The NPHCDA boss revealed that Kogi State remained the only state yet to take delivery of the vaccine, due to refusal to come forward for collection.
Dr Shuaib pointed out that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, produced by Oxford and their partners was not meant for profit-making, but geared towards flattening the curve of the pandemic globally.
He said concerns over accessibility, explains why the vaccine was cheaper than any other one available in the market
On the side effects of the vaccine that had made several European countries discontinue vaccination, the NPHCDA boss said no one among the over 8,000 Nigerians vaccinated had experienced any side-effect.
He, thereafter, appealed to Nigerians to disregard claims being made about side effects of the vaccine and visit designated vaccination centres within their communities to get vaccinated.
According to him, eligible Nigerians finding it difficult to get registered online can be manually registered at vaccination centres.
Health Reporters had reported that that several European countries including Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, have suspended vaccination with the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, after serial reports of blood clotting incidents.
Despite banning the vaccine in these countries over safety claims, the Federal Government said it will continue with its nationwide vaccination drive.
This is even as the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, assured that the vaccine has no side effects.
Speaking in Abuja, after being administered the vaccine, she said that the agency went through the application dossier of the vaccine before it was approved to be administered on Nigerians for the treatment of COVID-19.
Prof. Adeyeye maintained that the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risk, as it has already been scrutinised.
The NAFDAC DG, however, noted that there was no medicine without its side effect, especially when still going through the developmental stage.
“When we got the dossier or the application package of the vaccine, we went through it line by line, but before we got the application itself, we went through other assessments.
“I am talking about their assessment report so that we are prepared and guided when we start our own and that was exactly what happened.
“We conclude based on quality, safety and efficacy because we have to depend on the report, this particular AstraZeneca vaccine, over 20, 000 people were involved in phase three of the report,” she said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) insisted that there was no reason to stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, noting that no causal link has been established between the vaccine and clotting claims.
The WHO, however, said its vaccines advisory committee was examining the safety data coming in.
