The National Agency For Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for use in the country.
NAFDAC’S Director General,Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye disclosed this at a live briefing on Thursday.
Adeyeye said the Agency got the dossier of the vaccine a week ago and the NAFDAC safety committee immediately commenced evaluation of its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.
According to the DG, the vaccine can be stored at 2 – 8- degree centigrade.
Adeyeye said the evaluation on AstraZeneca showed that the vaccine is effective against the UK variant which has been reported in Nigeria adding that the South African variant has not been reported in the country.
She said there are three additional vaccines undergoing clinical evaluation while over 30 herbal medicines are undergoing review for listing.
The Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine was recently approved for emergency use by the World Health Organisation WHO.
The vaccine which is developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca proved to be 80% effective against covid-19. But recent reports suggested that the vaccine is not as effective on the South African variant.
