‘Only COVID-19 Vaccines Adaptable To Nigerians Should Be Imported’
The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria(AMLSN) has offered to partner with the Federal Government and other stakeholders in the processing of COVID-19 vaccines. The medical workers also noted that the government should import only vaccines that were adaptable to the local weather. The association insisted that the imported vaccines must also be subjected to in country validation procedures to ascertain their safety and effectiveness in line with international best practices. This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria held in Abuja, on Saturday.
The President of AMLSN assured that the medical laboratory scientists were skilled in vaccines production and were ready to start the development and production of vaccines against coronavirus and other infectious diseases in collaboration with other stakeholders. He added that all that was needed was adequate funding and necessary laboratory infrastructure. The medical laboratory scientists commended the FG for scaling up laboratory infrastructure in the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that the government should take a step further by reactivating human vaccines production laboratories in the country
In a related development, the President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday promised that Nigeria would continue to partner with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other countries to ensure accelerated development and manufacturing as well as unhindered supply of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines to all Africans. Buhari made the promise in his remarks, while participating in the virtual 34th ordinary session of the African Union from the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The President said Nigeria therefore welcomed the decision to establish the coronavirus African Vaccine Acquisition Capacity to accelerate the financing and procurement of coronavirus vaccines for the continent. Buhari thanked President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa for what he called the outstanding manner in which he steered the affairs of the AU in the last one year and congratulated the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Felix Tshisekedi, on his assumption of office as the union’s chairperson. He congratulated Ramaphosa for making good use of the platform of the bureau to address key issues for Africa on the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile the African Union(AU) on Saturday said it was committed to ensuring that all member countries benefited from efforts to prevent and contain the COVID-19 pandemic through the vaccination programme. The AU stated this at the ongoing 34th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly held virtually with the theme, ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage- Levers for Building the Africa We Want.’ In a statement titled, ’34th AU Summit strives to ensure that, as a continental body, no country is left behind in the COVID-19 responses as we enhance integration,’ the AU stated that the COVID-19 pandemic remained a severe health emergency that had caused great suffering and hardship across the African continent and globally.
Also at the event, the outgoing AU Chairperson and President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, invited the participants to observe a minute of silence for victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was attended virtually by the heads of AU member countries, including President Muhammadu Buhari.
