Why Nigeria is yet to commence vaccine production – Minister

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has explained some of the reasons for the delay in Nigeria’s efforts to locally manufacture vaccines.

Mr Pate, who spoke on Wednesday morning while appearing on a Channels Television show, said the country needed to secure more resources to achieve the target. .

According to him, the local production of vaccines is imperative to strengthening the health sector, noting that Nigeria cannot immediately commence local production without pooling adequate resources from all fronts.

Mr Pate said since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Nigerian government began making efforts to boost local production of medical equipment necessary to address disease outbreaks.

He said the government responded to the disease by making considerable investments in the public health system and sought to boost local production.

He said: “The effort we are making right now to improve primary health care and strengthen the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) testing capacities, human resources, and others started during COVID-19.

“But we need to go beyond that. We also need to produce some of the equipment we need during such outbreaks, and huge resources are needed.”

COVID-19 vaccine

The minister said the fund set aside for the production of the COVID-19 vaccine is still intact and that efforts are ongoing to gather more resources enough to kick off production.

In 2021, the federal government allocated N10 billion for the local production of coronavirus vaccines through Bio Vaccine Nigeria Limited, a Nigerian pharmaceutical company.

“We are working to develop our vaccines. Nigeria is exploring options for licensed production in collaboration with recognised institutions. We are also exploring the option of local production of the vaccines in the country,” the government had said at the time.

Speaking on this, Mr Pate said this decision was in the interest of domesticating the manufacturing capabilities. However, he noted, “the money has been around and has not been used.”

He said: “When we came in, we decided that the resources should be used for the intended purposes. But through the right entity of the government that holds government shares in Bio Vaccines Nigeria Limited.

“The money is intact and still available for the company,” he said.

The minister further noted that the funds available at the moment cannot are not enough for the company to start manufacturing. “It still has to mobilise resources from other areas.”

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He said: “Just last week, we were invited to discuss with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Bio Vaccines to discuss how they can be helped so that Nigeria can get on the path of manufacturing vaccines.

“We need to do more. We must improve our capability for local production. The past government did its best, and the administration is building on that to take things to the next level.”