Nigeria to Begin Local Production of COVID-19 Vaccines in 12 Months

• 3 herbal drugs undergoing clinical trials, says NAFDAC

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

Federal government has said that it’s targeting to commence local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines in the next 12 months.

Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye who revealed government’s plan while speaking on Tuesday on the ARISE TV Morning Show, also said that the agency had commenced clinical trials on three local herbal medicine products for the treatment of COVID-19.

Adeyeye said that government was concerned about the absence of medicine security and its implications for the healthcare needs of the people.
She said that federal government was particularly worried about the current challenges posed by inadequate supply of COVID-19 vaccines to take care of millions of Nigerians and was working assidiously to start local manufacturing of the vaccine.

When asked to give update on the plan to establish a factory in Nigeria that will undertake local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, Adeyeye said: “In terms of local manufacturing, federal government is working assidiously to ensure that there will be local manufacturing of vaccines within a year.

According to Adeyeye, with the less than two percent of the country’s population vaccinated so far, federal government is conscious of the constraints posed by lack of drug security.

Adeyeye also said that NAFDAC had initiated a process to develop herbal medicine products in the country in 2019 by setting up Herbal Medicine Product Development committee to advance the development of herbal medicine.

She added that the purpose was to bring herbal medicine practitioners and researchers together so as to subject their products to scientific investigation.
She described the development of herbal medicine as a very complicated process.

Details later..