Dr. Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare
The federal government has made public its intentions to guarantee domestic vaccination production and significantly lessen dependency on pharmaceutical imports.
This was said yesterday in Abuja during a stakeholders’ dialogue with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) to address technology gaps in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical and vaccine sectors. Dr. Tunji Alausa is the minister of state for health and social welfare.
The goal of the discussion is to bring together concepts and ideas for practical, yet effective, plans that will hasten the transfer of technology needed for regional production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines.
In addition to stimulating local research and development operations for medicines and other healthcare commodities, the minister stated that this approach will establish a firm foundation that supports utilizing local capacity to meet the population’s health care demands.
“Nigeria, like many other African countries, was affected due to inability to manufacture vaccines locally, in the light of this, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Pate Ali, went ahead to develop a vaccine policy in order to be proactive in achieving sustainable local manufacturing of vaccines.
“This development of this epoch of making policy was undertaken alongside critical actors in the healthcare space and will be fit and proper response to the lack of access Nigeria and other similarly disadvantaged nations suffered during two vaccines. Pressure analysis probably did, again landscape during the COVID 19 pandemic, Dr. Alausa detailed.
He said, “With the steps taken so far, I’m confident that the government prioritisation of vaccine production will begin to yield the desired result within the shortest possible time. Reliance on importation of pharmaceutical products will drastically reduce.”
Dr. Obi Adigwe, the director-general of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, is aiming to coordinate science and policy support to establish at least three local vaccine manufacturing entities in the country within three to five years.
He believes that this policy echo system will help achieve the target in half the timeframe set.
“There are three companies that have indicated interest and have spoken to their MDs and chairmen. As the case may be, and given the integrity of these individuals, I know that those three companies will successfully manufacture vaccines within the next 24 to 36 months.
“So, it is for us to enhance our activities to be sure that their support is contextual and enable them to reach that target,” he stated.