COVID-19 vaccines: FG tasks states on expeditious administration by states otherwise

The Federal Government on Friday said that states must be ready to administer the expected COVID-19 vaccines within five days otherwise they might lose their potency.

Government has therefore made the readiness by states to do this as a condition to release the vaccines to them.

This came against the backdrop of an earlier assurance by the Federal Government that the first batch of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in the country im January and February.

Director, Logistics and Health Commodities, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) , Hajia Kubura Daradara stated during a webinar hosted by the agency on Friday that government would not release the vaccines to the states until the states were ready to administer them.

She explained that states were expected to administer the vaccines within five days to retain their potency and that only states that showed commitment to this would receive the vaccines.

The Federal Government had said the first batch of the vaccines would arrive in the country between the end of January and February 2021, adding that the vaccines to be used in the country would be safe and effective.

It also said the 100,000 doses of the vaccine being expected in the first batch were for 50,000 Nigerians as the vaccines would be taken twice by each person at 21 days interval.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said previously that the country would spend N400bn to procure vaccines for the 70 per cent of Nigerians it planned to vaccinate, amid the rising spread of the virus in the dreaded second wave of the pandemic.

The Senate had, on December 21, expressed doubts over the preparedness of the government to effectively store the vaccines upon arrival in the country.

But speaking at the webinar on Friday, Daradara said, “We are not releasing the vaccines to any state until we are sure that they are ready to implement (administer the vaccines).

“For the transportation of the vaccines, we will use dry ice in insulated thermal containers that are going to be sealed.

“So, when a state is ready for implementation, we take the vaccines to them a day to the time they are going to start the implementation. At the state level, the vaccines can stay for +2 to +8, which is at the normal refrigeration level for five days. So, each state would do their implementation for five days, that is when the vaccines will still be potent after we have given them.

“Once the vaccines are in the states, they can remove the vaccines and put them in their normal refrigerators where it would stay for five days.”

She stated further: “Two weeks before the vaccines come into the country, we would receive a pre-alert that we are expecting the vaccines, we would issue job order to our clearing agents, we also issue notification letters to Customs, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and the National Aviation Handling Company so they can know we are expecting vaccines.

“Immediately the vaccines arrive, the clearing agents go to the airport with the NAFDAC and Customs to conclude the documentation.

“The vaccines are immediately taken to the National Strategic Cold Store in Abuja, where we have Ultra Cold Chain freezers where we would store the vaccines.

“Before loading the vaccines into the UCC, the NAFDAC officer that followed them from the airport to the store will pick a sample randomly from every batch of the vaccine and these would be taken to their office for testing. NAFDAC would then certify if the vaccines are potent and good enough to be used.”