The World Health Organisation (WHO)-led COVAX global initiative has ruled out Nigeria from benefitting Pfizer vaccines citing Nigeria’s deficiency in the key apect of keeping the vaccine with the required -70 degrees celsius.
Nigeria therefore not among the beneficiaries with only four out of 13 African countries which applied to the COVAX initiative making the cut.
Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was the first to meet regulatory requirements in US and has been so far the mist widely in use.
This development will come as a rude shock to the Nigerian government which had earlier annoinced that it was expecting to receive 100,000 doses through the COVAX initiative, which was set up to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.
The Director, WHO, African Region, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, in a virtual press conference, said WHO could not risk the Pfizer vaccines being wasted.
She said, “Around 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries – Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia. This vaccine has received WHO Emergency Use Listing but requires countries to be able to store and distribute doses at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
“To access an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine, countries were invited to submit proposals. Thirteen African countries submitted proposals and were evaluated by a multi-agency committee based on current mortality rates, new cases and trends, and the capacity to handle the ultra-cold chain needs of the vaccine.
“This announcement allows countries to fine-tune their planning for COVID-19 immunisation campaigns. We urge African nations to ramp up readiness and finalise their national vaccine deployment plans. Regulatory processes, cold chain systems and distribution plans need to be in place to ensure vaccines are safely expedited from ports of entry to delivery. We can’t afford to waste a single dose.”
