The Federal government of Nigeria has released ₦10 billion to support domestic vaccines production to tackle COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
According to Dr Osagie Ehanire, the minister of health for state who revealed this on Monday during the Presidential Task Force COVID-19 briefing, the fund was released by the Ministry of Finance to support the production in collaboration with recognised institutions.
He said, "The Ministry of Finance has released ₦10 billion to support domestic vaccine production.
"While we are working to develop our own 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."
He then went on to debunk claims that the vaccines are already in place for sale.
He said, “I advise all citizens to disregard these claims, as they are criminal.
"There are procedures for vaccine acquisition and use, which include appropriate regulations and certification by the National Agency for Food and Drug and Administration and Control.
"I advise against fake vaccines, as there is no one approved for use in the country. “The National Primary Health Care Development Agency is the only authorised vaccine administrator in Nigeria.
Ehanire bemoaned the spike of COVID-19 cases across the country, noting that 10,300 confirmed cases were reported from just 50,750 samples tested in one week, which translates into a 20 per cent positivity rate.
"It means one out of every five persons tested in the last one week turned out positive, compared with the previous week which recorded a positivity rate of 14 per cent.
"Nigeria’s total number of confirmed cases is 110,387 out of a total of 1,172,234 samples tested, with a cumulative positivity rate of 9.4 per cent. 1,444 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, with sadly 77 deaths in the past week and total fatality of 1,435.
"It is instructive of the second wave that all cases recorded so far this January are more than 20 per cent of all confirmed cases in Nigeria, more than the whole of December, barely halfway through the month.
"There is no doubting the fact that we are deep into the second wave of the pandemic which requires that PTF and FMoH review our strategies to respond to the challenge.
"The Federal Ministry of Health has outlined three approaches to confront the pandemic.
"These are infection mitigation, therapeutics and vaccines," He added.
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