The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, has once again, assured that Nigeria has the adequate storage capacity to preserve the first 100,000 doses expected from Pfizer in a few days, as well as others on the way.Dr. Shuaib also said the agency has developed a comprehensive COVID-19 vaccine deployment and vaccination plan.
“We have also developed an operational manual to roll out the vaccines when they come.
“We encourage Nigerians to get vaccinated when the vaccines become accessible because the benefits far outweigh the potential side effects.
“I want to reiterate that the first set of vaccines expected in the country is the Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccine, and the equipment that is required to store them is the ultracold chain.
“Equipment for the storage of the vaccines are available at the National Strategic Cold Store of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in airport road, FCT.
“Those Ultracold chain equipment are available, and we have over 2,100 litres capacity.
“Requirement for the 100,000 Pfizer vaccines that will be coming by the end of January or early February is 500 litres.
“So we have more than enough capacity for 100,000 doses, and in particular reference to those reports that claim that we are going to waste the 100,000 doses because we do not have any ultra cold chain equipment. “
Recall that early this month, the NPHCDA boss, in a series of tweets via his Twitter handle @drfaisalshuaib, said Nigeria had invested in cold chain equipment and that the focus is to get vaccines that the storage facility can effectively manage.
He also assured of the effectiveness of the expected vaccines, noting that the presidency is confident and ready to participate in vaccination once the exercise kicks off.
Dr. Shuaib said the agency is working closely with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control as a regulatory agency, irrespective of other foreign certification of the vaccine.
“There must be due diligence. When the vaccines come, NAFDAC has to go through the assessment and processes to certify it good enough for Nigerians,” he added.
“Our focus is to get vaccines that our cold chain can manage. We have the ultra-cold chain to keep them potent.
“100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are expected in the country by the end of January 2021,” he said.
source: Punch
