The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has said the agency will not conduct a local clinical trial on the proposed vaccines before administering them on Nigerians.
According to the agency, there might not be need to conduct extensive clinical trial on the vaccines since the World Health Organisation, WHO, had ratified the vaccines.
The agency, however, noted that the vaccines would be subjected to safety and efficacy test before administering them on Nigerians.
NAFDAC’s Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola in an interview with Punch said due to the urgency of COVID-19, there may be no reason to conduct a trial before thru could be administered.
He said, “Once the vaccine arrives, a sample will be taken to the lab for a test. Once its safety and efficacy are certified by NAFDAC, it will be administered on Nigerians. We don’t expect anything to be different though.
“The truth is that once a vaccine is approved by the WHO, it is assumed that it has passed through some preliminary stage of the trial. It is a known fact that for the WHO to sanction a vaccine, it must have gone through a series of trial here and there.”
Although he said NAFDAC’s evaluation of the vaccine would not be rigorous mainly because it’s not a new vaccine, Akintola noted that its efficacy and safety needed to be ratified.
“It is just for ratification. There is nothing on drugs or vaccines you will do without the consent of WHO. It is also expected that the regulatory body in each country would do its work in tandem with the WHO standard,” he added.