FG Advised to Partner Pharmacists to Produce Vaccine Locally

Omolabake Fasogbon

The federal government has been advised not to rely on foreign countries for vaccine supply, but to strengthen local resources with needed support to enable vaccine production within.

This became more urgent as the Minister of state for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, decried lack of access to the vaccine despite their availability in developed countries.

Experts gave this advice at a virtual media roundtable session on the Public Health Emergency Operation Centres (PHEOCs) in West Africa, where they encouraged all African countries to strive to produce their vaccine locally, given the trends of shortage lately.

Speaking at the session, Director of the Senegalese Emergency Health Operations Center, Dr. Abdoulaye Bousso, stated that Nigeria will need to strengthen partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, especially in the area of research to expedite the process of local production and curtail the spread of ravaging COVID-19.

Bousso also hailed Nigeria’s response to COVID-19 emergency and its recovery efforts.

He requested for the country to make its strategies open for struggling African countries to learn from them.

Special Advisor to the Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation, Africa Regional Office, Wadzanayi Muchenje, added that the foundation was in support of local production of vaccines.