By Adedapo Adesanya
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Muhammad Pate, has said Nigeria could become a hub for vaccine production and distribution in Africa, banking on his experience at GAVI.
According to him, this can be achieved with the country’s large population, skilled workforce, and existing pharmaceutical industry.
“On local vaccine manufacturing, as you are all aware, until I came back as a Minister, I was going to work with GAVI, an international organisation created in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. And GAVI also shapes vaccine markets.
“What is clear is that market shaping is a key Instrument. Nigeria has over 200 million people, and that’s a large market. We intend to pull that demand and hopefully use that to catalysed local manufacturing,” he said.
He also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of local vaccine production and the need for African countries to be self-sufficient in this area.
“If we do not produce more than 30 per cent of our pharmaceutical generics, let’s think of biological, like vaccines, that will take a little bit more time.
“There are already programmes that have been established for the last 15 to 16 years, and there have not yet produced a dose of vaccine here.,” he lamented.
However, he acknowledged that there were challenges to be overcome, such as lack of investment and infrastructure, regulatory barriers, and limited access to technology and expertise.
“Vaccine production is not something we will say we will do in two or three months, but what we can assure Nigerians is that very soon, they will hear what we are doing in this arena so that over time Nigeria can graduate from dependency from some medical commodities if not all medical commodities,” he assured.
He called for increased collaboration between governments, the private sector, and international partners to support the growth of local vaccine manufacturing in Nigeria and across Africa.
“We can produce some of what we need and get some of what we don’t have.
“Almost all countries demand some others countries too, so I can not say that we will produce 100 per cent, but what I am saying is that we will produce some of what we can, and we can also get from some other countries,” he said.
Speaking on demand creation for vaccines, the Minister said that the country would leverage its polio strategy.
“With Polio and routine immunisation in the country, we activated the northern traditional rulers committee, and they expanded the space to religious leaders, households and families.
“No parents will skip the opportunity to protect their child if they understand the value of vaccination. They will only refuse if they do not know., or the vaccine is not available if the health worker is rude or if the cold chain is not working.
He said that the ministry intends to expand the Northern Traditional Rulers Committee on Primary Healthcare to make it more national and engage all traditional rulers across the country.
“We have traditional rulers across the country. They have moral authority, and for them, we will be very honest and respect the intent to serve their population and together with them, we can continue to expand access to vaccine demand.”
Aduragbemi Omiyale