This Is Good: President Buhari Welcomes Nigeria’s Designation As Vaccine-Manufacturing Base
- President Buhari has revealed his happiness over the designation of Nigeria as a manufacturing bases for the COVID-19 vaccine
- Buhari disclosed this at the Roundtable Om Health Systems And. Vaccine Production at the ongoing 6th Europe-Africa Summit
- Going further, while commending the efforts of the foreign partners in making the COVID-19 vaccine available, he urged them to do more Africa
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday in Brussels, Belgium, welcomed the designation of Nigeria as one of the six countries in Africa designated as manufacturing bases for the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a statement by his media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja, Buhari also called for collaboration to address the effects of the pandemic.
Source: Facebook
Shehu said Buhari spoke at the Roundtable Om Health Systems And. Vaccine Production at the ongoing 6th Europe-Africa Summit.
The president said:
Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through info@corp.legit.ng!
“I am delighted to receive the news of the selection of Nigeria among recipients of MRNA Vaccine technology transfer.
”We shall ensure the best use is made of the opportunity. Nigeria also offers to host the Bio-manufacturing Training hub proposed by World Health Organization (WHO).
”We commit to providing support to make the hub functional in the shortest possible time.
”Accordingly, we are prioritising the manufacture of vaccines on the African continent and in the sharing and transfer of technology and intellectual property rights.
”We call on the EU to support the WTO towards the conclusion of negotiations on intellectual property rights’ waiver to ensure that the manufacturing of vaccines can start early in Africa.”
While commending the efforts of the foreign partners in making the COVID-19 vaccine available, he urged them to do more as less than 10 per cent of the African population had gotten the jab.
He stressed that this situation could negatively affect Africa’s developmental projections.
“We commend the efforts and support of Team Europe for the substantial contribution to the COVAX facility and the EU contribution for Vaccination rollout campaign in Africa.
”But currently, less than 10 per cent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated, compared to more than 60 per cent total vaccinations in the EU, as at the end of 2021.
“Regrettably, millions of African citizens are yet to receive their first dose of vaccination jabs, while their counterparts in Europe and other parts of the world are bracing up for their third booster shots.
”When eventually, Africa received about 700 million doses of vaccines before the end of 2021 under the COVAX Facility, it represented a considerable shortfall for a population of 1.383 billion."
Nigeria, Kenya, 4 other African countries to begin COVID-19 vaccine production
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that six African countries would be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce their own COVID-19 vaccines.
Legit.ng gathered that the director-general of the health organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus, announced this on Friday, February 18, at the European Union - African Union summit in Brussels.
In a statement made available on its website, WHO said Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia have been selected as the first recipients of technology from its global mRNA vaccine hub.
The mRNA is the advanced technology used by companies such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for their COVID-19 shots. According to Ghebreyesus, they were selected from the organisation’s global mRNA vaccine hub, in a push to ensure the African continent can make its own jabs to fight COVID and other diseases.
Source: Legit.ng
