The Federal Government has reviewed and validated the draft National Plan for Vaccine R&D and manufacturing in Nigeria, with the view to expedite local vaccine manufacturing and halt vaccines importation.
The draft plan, the first of its kind in Africa, was developed in 2021; it highlights the roles of relevant stakeholders in the vaccine landscape.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa who spoke at the review and validation meeting organised by the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), in Abuja at the weekend, noted that the efforts of the Federal Government to commence local vaccines production was already yielding the expected results.
Represented by Dr. David Atuwo, he said the review and validation of the Draft Roadmap would fast-tract the achievement of the vaccine policy objectives of the federal government, even as the meeting would provide critical stakeholders and policy-makers the opportunity to address critical healthcare issues, as well as enhance entry of the pharmaceutical sector into the larger African market.
He said: “With this initiative, I am confident that the Government prioritization as regards local vaccine production will begin to yield the desired result within the shortest possible time, and the reliance on importation of this important public health tool will be drastically reduced.
“The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare will continue to provide the necessary oversight and work with NIPRD, partners and stakeholders at the various levels to ensure that the desired results of sustainable vaccine R&D and local production in Nigeria are achieved.”
The minister however noted that despite the challenges government was confronted with in commencing local manufacture of vaccines, appreciable progress have been made in the past few years.
“Nigeria has recently attained Maturity Level Three (ML3) for regulatory oversight and this includes the area of vaccines.
“With this and other ongoing reforms in the health sector, vaccines produced as a result of this process will not only satisfy national needs, but will also be available for international procurement.
“Whilst the government is taking steps to provide the needed infrastructure requisite for the implementation of local vaccines’ production, it is commendable that NIPRD, in line with its mandate, continues to set the pace for responsive innovation in this area.
“This high-level meeting is intended to bring together relevant stakeholders in order to synthesize ideas and solutions for a robust and contextual base plan to achieve sustainable local manufacturing of vaccines in Nigeria.
“This approach will provide a strong foundation that is underpinned by empirical evidence. The adoption of this bottom-up strategy in developing this plan ensures that innovative ideas embedded in this framework are designed to stimulate local vaccines R&D and vaccines production in Nigeria.”
Director General of NIPRD, Dr. Obi Adigwe who said the meeting was the first step to unlock the health value chain plan aimed at saving lives and addressing critical socio-economic indices such as job creation, capacity building, revenue generation and technology transfer, however, stressed that Africa no more cherished what he described as “tokenistic” interventions such as fill-finish products.
“Africa no longer has an interest in tokenistic interventions such as fill-finish products, but has become interested in building dependable, equitable, and veracious partnerships that will enable the Continent to undertake full R&D for the production of vaccines,” the NIPRD boss said..
