Just In: NAFDAC has approved AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine for use In Nigeria

The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Nigeria.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Mojisola Adeyeye made the announcement during a live briefing on Thursday.

She noted that the vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8-degree centigrade.

The vaccine was recently approved by the W.H.O for emergency use, in a press briefing, NAFDAC says it got the dossier of the vaccine a week ago, and the NAFDAC safety committee went to work immediately to evaluate its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, or AZD1222, is a viral vector vaccine. Scientists used an adenovirus, originally derived from chimpanzees, and modified it with the aim of training the immune system to mount a strong response against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).