The Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Christianah Adeyeye has raised the alarm over fake vaccines in the country as she urged the public to beware of such vaccines.
She disclosed this on Friday morning during a webinar meeting with journalists, tagged: “Safety of COVID-19 vaccines: What NAFDAC wants the public to know about COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria.”
According to her, there are no vaccines yet approved by its agency. “The agency has not received any application from COVID-19 vaccines manufacturers. COVID-19 vaccines are new, and the side effects or adverse events must be well monitored.”
While appealing to the public to beware of vaccines, she said: “there are reports of fake vaccines in Nigeria, therefore, if NAFDAC does not approve, the public should not use. No COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by NAFDAC. Fake vaccines can cause COVID-like illnesses or other serious diseases that could kill.”
“NAFDAC plans to commence tracking and tracing of the vaccines. It plans to also use the traceability with GS1 technology to monitor the vaccine distribution using Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). The goal 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, she added.”
