COVID-19 Vaccines Should Not Be Ordered By Any Company, NAFDAC Warns

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Friday, said COVID-19 vaccines should not be ordered by any company.

In a statement issued on NAFDAC’s website, Director-General of the agency, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said companies that manufacture the vaccines “if they are genuine companies know they have to submit their application to NAFDAC”.

“No government establishment or agencies should order COVID vaccines without confirming from NAFDAC if the vaccine has been approved.

“However, NAFDAC is discussing with manufacturers of candidate COVID-19 vaccines concerning potential Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), registration or licensing of their product as the case may be.

“The Agency assures applicants that if Phase 3 clinical data are very convincing and robust with regards to safety and efficacy, and the vaccine has been submitted for WHO for Emergency Use Listing, NAFDAC will welcome the application for Emergency Use Authorisation in Nigeria.”

The agency also revealed its plans to “use the Traceability with GS1 technology to monitor the vaccine distribution using the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).”

According to NAFDAC, the move is to prevent fake vaccines from infiltrating the supply chain and to ensure there is no diversion.

“This effort will create a reliable and predictable supply chain. The multi-stakeholder technical working group has been meeting to address different issues, from access to distribution to traceability (track and trace) of the vaccines to monitoring of adverse events following immunization,” the statement added.