COVID-19: NAFDAC Authorises Use of AstraZeneca in Nigeria

By Ahmed Rahma

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

The agency approved the use of the jab in the country on Thursday days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved it for emergency use.

In a press briefing, NAFDAC said it got the dossier of the vaccine a week ago and its safety committee went to work immediately to evaluate its safety and efficacy for Nigerians.

Recall that a week ago, the government of South Africa suspended the use of AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on its citizens over an issue concerning the protection of users.

About a million doses of the vaccine from the United Kingdom had already been delivered to the former apartheid country by the manufacturer.

However, South Africa claimed test results showed that the vaccine did not protect clinical-trial participants from mild or moderate illness caused by the more contagious COVID-19 virus variant ( B.1.351) that was first seen there.

It was not clear from the studies whether the vaccine protected against severe disease from the B.1.351 variant.

The clinical trial participants, who were evaluated, were relatively young and unlikely to become severely ill, making it impossible for the scientists to determine if the variant interfered with the vaccine’s ability to protect against severe COVID-19, hospitalisations or deaths.

Based on the immune responses detected in blood samples of people who were given the vaccine, the scientists said they believed that the vaccine could yet protect against more severe cases.

South African health officials said they will consider resuming use of the vaccine if further studies show that it could yet protect against more severe cases.

The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, codenamed AZD1222, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca given by intramuscular injection, using as a vector the modified chimpanzee adenovirus ChAdOx1.

According to research, one dosing regimen showed 90 per cent efficacy when a half-dose was followed by a full-dose after at least one month, based on mixed trials with no participants over 55 years old. Another dosing regimen showed 62 per cent efficacy when given as two full doses separated by at least one month.