President Bola Tinubu directed the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, to collaborate with the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to ensure the release of necessary funds for vaccine procurement.
He reassured the Vaccine Alliance, GAVI, of Nigeria’s commitment to fulfilling its outstanding counterpart contributions for routine vaccines for the year 2023.
This directive coincided with GAVI’s offer of a $250 million grant to Nigeria for local vaccine production.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, conveyed these instructions in a statement titled ‘President Tinubu to GAVI CEO: Nigerian manufacturers are capable and ready to produce vaccines.’
According to Ngelale, Tinubu urged GAVI to collaborate with potential Nigerian vaccine manufacturers to ensure equitable access to life-saving vaccines for children and adults.
The President emphasized that local manufacturers are capable and prepared to produce vaccines on a large scale.
“We have capable and talented individuals who can significantly contribute to vaccine production in Nigeria and the rest of Africa,’’ Tinubu informed a delegation from GAVI led by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Sania Nishtar, at the State House, Abuja.
Tinubu argued that partnering on local vaccine production has become imperative due to the challenges faced by developing countries, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious disease outbreaks.
His remarks followed Nigeria’s designation as one of the six countries in Africa selected as manufacturing hubs for the COVID-19 vaccine in February 2022.
In August of the same year, former President Muhammadu Buhari assured the German-based mRNA vaccine manufacturer BioNTech of Nigeria’s readiness to collaborate on local vaccine production.
Buhari expressed anticipation of receiving a commitment from the company to expand collaboration in achieving Nigeria’s objective of developing capacities for research, development, and manufacturing.