Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has ruled out the possibility of conducting a local clinical trial on the proposed N 400bn vaccines before administering them on Nigerians.
The agency said since the World Health Organisation had approved the vaccines there might not be need to conduct another clinical trial on the vaccines.
It, however , said it would subject vaccines , which the Federal Government may likely spend N 400bn to procure , to proper revalidation before administering them on Nigerians.
Speaking with PUNCH on Friday, NAFDAC’ s Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola , told one of our correspondents that owing to the exigencies of COVID -19, there may be no reason to conduct a trial before administering the vaccines.
“ Once the vaccine arrives , a sample will be taken to the lab for a test. Once its safety and efficacy are certified by NAFDAC, it will be administered on Nigerians . We don’ t expect anything to be different though .
“ The truth is that once a vaccine is approved by the WHO, it is assumed that it has passed through some preliminary stage of the trial. It is a known fact that for the WHO to sanction a vaccine, it must have gone through a series of trial here and there , ” he said .
Although he said NAFDAC’ s evaluation of the vaccine would not be rigorous mainly because it’ s not a new vaccine , Akintola noted that its efficacy and safety needed to be ratified.
He stated , “ It is just for ratification. There is nothing on drugs or vaccines you will do without the consent of WHO. It is also expected that the regulatory body in each country would do its work in tandem with the WHO standard. ”
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