The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye has said that Nigeria is working to ensure vaccines with longer duration are delivered to the country.
She spoke against the backdrop of the one million doses of vaccines that expired in November and were destroyed by NAFDAC and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency.
Prof. Mojisola while disclosing this to journalist on Wednesday in Lagos, said the expired vaccines had a short expiration date, which made it almost impossible for use.
She said, “When developed countries started using the vaccine for many months, we didn’t have access to them until we started receiving donations, not just through COVAX alone but from some countries also.
“The expiration date was shorter than what it was supposed to be and between the time we tested and start using it, there was not enough time and that was the only reason not because we were careless.
The NAFDAC DG however said the Agency is working with international partners to ensure vaccines are timely delivered between five or six months of its expiration.
Speaking on the Omicron Variant, she said research is still ongoing glibally, to fully understand the new variant of COVID-19.
She further advised Nigerians to always take precautionary measures to limit the spread of the virus.