By Doris Obinna, Fred Ezeh, Abuja, Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has approved Astrazeneca vaccine for use in Nigeria.
Director General of NAFADC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, that it took the agency 11 days to complete work on the vaccine to certify it safe for use.
She said the Astrazeneca vaccine though recently approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use was recieved by NAFDAC a week ago, after which the agency went to work immediately to evaluate its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.
“We received the vaccine on February 10, 2021. We gave it expedited review because it has gotten approval by WHO, UK and Canada. It took about a week before the approval. But the story may be different for other vaccines.”
She said the vaccine could be stored at two to eight-degree centigrades, adding, “there are three additional vaccines undergoing evaluation, but the evaluation on Astrazeneca shows that the vaccine is effective against the UK variant of the virus which has been reported in Nigeria. The South African variant has not been reported in Nigeria.”
. Youth groups issue 7-day ultimatum to govs to revive PHCs
Youth groups in the country have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) to revive the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in their states in respond to basic health care challenges to citizens, esepcially COVID-19 pandemic.
The groups include National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Nigerian Youths Union (NYU) and National Youth Council of Nigeria(NYCN).
They threatened to take actions against the governors, including nationwide protests that could disrupt socio-economic activities if the governors failed to take concrete actions on the matter.
National President of NYU, Chinonso Obasi, who addressed journalists in Abuja, on behalf of the groups bemoaned the deplorable state of PHCs in Nigeria calling on NGF to refrain from resisting efforts to build and equip PHCs particularly in the face of the current spike in COVID-19 cases and other ailments.
“Nigerian youths, students, and civil society groups would continue to resist the anti-people stand of stampeding access to healthcare at the local level. In the next seven days, we shall mobilise our members to press home our demands to the NGF and ALGON,” he said.
. Edo govt decries rising health workers infection
A non-governmental organisation, Edo Dynasty United Worldwide (EDUW), yesterday, called on citizens of the state to join hands with government to put the dreaded COVID-19 virus at bay.
This is as government, yesterday, decried the alarming rise in the number of health workers infected in the state.
State COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr. Andrew Obi, disclosed this during a virtual meeting of the State COVID-19 Taskforce, chaired by t Governor Godwin Obaseki.
“In the last 24 hours, Edo Stat recorded 17 new cases of COVID-19, 25 recoveries and one more death.With the new figures, we now have a total of 1,664 confirmed cases, 41 deaths and 780 recoveries since December 1, 2020. Within the same timeframe, we recorded three more health workers infection, raising the total number of infections to 769 since the outbreak of the virus. While we recorded 381 health workers infections in the first wave, the number of infections for health workers in the second wave has climbed to 388,” he said.
The EDUW group took its sensitisation message through some major streets in Benin City.
Speaking at the rally, Bevy Efe said the fight against the dreaded disease was a fight for all citizens of the state and should not be left in the hands of the government alone even as he urged the people to take necessary steps to protect themselves.