Covid-19: Nigeria Will Begin Manufacturing MRNA Vaccines

President Muhammadu Buhari has hailed Nigeria’s selection as one of six African countries to serve as manufacturing bases for the COVID-19 vaccine.

The President spoke on Friday in Brussels, Belgium, as part of the 6th Europe-Africa Summit’s Roundtable on Health Systems and Vaccine Production.
“I am overjoyed to learn that Nigeria has been chosen as a recipient of mRNA vaccine technology transfer,” he said. We will make the best possible use of the opportunity. Nigeria also offers to host the World Health Organization’s proposed bio-manufacturing training hub (WHO). We pledge to assist in getting the hub up and running as quickly as possible.

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“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 European Union (EU) to support the World Trade Organisation (WTO) towards the conclusion of negotiations on intellectual property rights’ waiver to ensure that the manufacturing of vaccines can start early in Africa.”

Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a statement, noted that with the addition of Nigeria to the countries earlier approved for the vaccine production on the continent, efforts by the Buhari administration to change the selection that the country considered unrepresentative of the needs, capabilities and population distribution in Africa had yielded the desired result.

President Buhari, who also called for collaboration to address the effects of the pandemic, commended the efforts of the foreign partners in making the COVID-19 vaccine available.

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He, however, urged them to do more as less than 10 per cent of the African population had gotten the jab, stressing that it could negatively affect Africa’s developmental projections.