World health organization has disqualified Nigeria from getting the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines due to the country’s failure to meet the storage requirement for the vaccine within 70 degree celsius temperature.
WHO Director, Dr. Matshidso Moeti, said this during a press conference attended by newsmen.
The federal government had earlier stated that the country is expecting to get 100,000 doses of vaccines through the world COVAX initiative to all citizens irrespective of their income earnings and levels.
Dr. Moeti said only four African countries were shortlisted out of the 13 that bided for the vaccines.
The WHO director who insists the organization cannot afford the Pfizer vaccines to be wasted 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.”
Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Director-General, Prof Babatunde Salako had earlier told newsmen that the country does not have enough space to store the Pfizer vaccines at the required WHO temperature.
Debunking the comment of Prof Babatunde, the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said Nigeria has the capacity to store the vaccines. He also took journalists on a tour of the Abuja facility that would accommodate the vaccines if it arrives in the country.
