New Telegraph

Buhari, Nigeria’s healthcare and COVID remedies (6)

Isn’t Nigeria’s current push, to facilitate local clinical
trials, develop and produce COVID-19 vaccines, and
other vaccines and remedies for deadly diseases,
coming too little, too late? No, experts say, as the
pandemic has the potential for the long haul.
Due to lack of standardized infrastructure, Nigeria
didn’t join in the global clinical trials, development, production
and distribution of the vaccines to combat the
pathogen that’s recorded 157,640,052 infections, 3,286,534
deaths and 135,116,911 recovered worldwide, as at 13:31
(GMT/WAST) on Saturday May 8, 2021.
But the zeal to achieving the capabilities is moving
apace, as the government engages the private sector that
experts say is crucial to leading the drive for remedies
for COVID-19 and other diseases.
Accordingly, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and
House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila have met with President
Muhammadu Buhari, for discussion on part-funding
for COVID-19 vaccination, with a Supplementary
Budget being sent to the National Assembly.
The legislative leaders alluded to allocating resources
for local production of remedies against the virus, to
counter the narrative that Africa has “traditionally
lagged in vaccine development and manufacturing,”
and that “less than one per cent of all the vaccines used
in Africa are sourced from within Africa.”
With the continent being shortchanged in the global
supply of COVID-19 vaccines produced in America, Europe
and Asia, the executive and legislative synergy for
homegrown remedies is a bold statement on Nigeria’s
seemingly comatose healthcare system.
Following the parley with President Buhari, Sen.
Lawan says Nigeria should have “some resources for
our scientists to collaborate with other scientists across
the globe, to have our own vaccine,” as “we can’t rely on
what other countries are doing.”
“The U.S. is not allowing (Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson
& Johnson) vaccines to go out of U.S.; EU is not allowing
AstraZeneca vaccine produced in the UK to be
sent out of EU; and India is not allowing the AstraZeneca
vaccine it produces to be exported,” he said.
“We have to fall back on our capacities and abilities;
we have great scientists in this country, and many Nigerians
outside Nigeria are also helping in developing
the vaccines in other countries.
“So, why don’t you bring them home? Why don’t you
put some resources so they will also produce ours locally
here and take care of our population, and then later
other African countries, especially our neighbours? So,
we had a very good discussion and interaction with Mr.
President along those lines,” he said.
Sen. Lawan reinforces his position at the presentation
of a research work on ‘Legislative Efforts and
Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic’ by the Young
Parliamentarians Forum, in collaboration with the
Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
For him, the project to develop a vaccine must deploy
resources specifically to provide the needed environment
for Nigerian scientists abroad to come up with a
vaccine that would serve Nigeria’s population and that
of other developing countries.
He says for Nigeria to provide “herd immunity” for
its over 200 million population, the government must
collaborate with international bodies to develop and
produce vaccines locally.
“This means we have to provide resources for setting
up the environment for our scientists to collaborate with
international agencies, as well as citizens who are either
holding dual citizenships in other countries or are simply
our citizens who have gone to other countries… for
us to have our own vaccines,” Sen. Lawan said.
“It is a must, it is a necessity, and it is inevitable. Otherwise,
Nigeria may not achieve the herd immunity in
the next four or five years with our 200 million population,”
he added.
Sen. Lawan notes that with about four million (AstraZeneca)
doses of vaccines for over 200 citizens,: “I
don’t know how we can get 70 per cent of our people
vaccinated, and that will translate into about 150 million
or more to vaccinate in the next two or three years.
“So, we need to work hard, provide the legislative
intervention in terms of resources and environment for
our scientists to work,” he said, referencing an overseasbased
Nigerian scientist.
“I listened to a Nigerian scientist, who is based in the
U.S., and he said it’ll require only one year for a Nigerian
project to get its own vaccine that is not supposed to be
for Nigerians only,” Lawan said.
“And that is why we need international collaboration.
It’ll be a vaccine that can be easily used by other
countries, even though when we are able to achieve that,
we also target our population first like other countries
are doing,” he added.
Though Sen. Lawan didn’t identify the “expat” Nigerian
scientist that he referenced, Dr Simon Agwale
certainly fits the bill. A renowned virologist and vaccinologist,
he’s chair of Africa COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing
Initiative and Chief Executive Officer of Innovative
Biotech USA and Nigeria.
With many years of experience “combining top-level
scientific research with the operations of Biotech companies,”
and involvement in academic research at institutions
in Nigeria, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America,” Dr Agwale says “producing
a vaccine is no rocket science.”
But he notes it’s neither a trivial matter, especially in
the absence of “the necessary infrastructure needed for
the arduous standardized processes” he firmly declares
“is lacking” in Nigeria.
Dr Agwale, as quoted in the media, holds that understanding
the current vaccine landscape, tracking of
other countries’ development and development of partnerships
“is amongst the essential aspects for successful
vaccine development and manufacture in Africa.”
Chiefly, he explains that “the development and/or
manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria will create
a strategic long-term benefit for the country to be
pandemic ready,” offering his expertise and experience
to making Nigeria a vaccine producer.
Thus, his outfit, Innovative Biotech Nigeria, is partnering
with two United States companies, to develop and
manufacture COVID-19 vaccines for clinical trials and
use in Africa, “with a plan to set up a factory in Nigeria,
to domesticate vaccine production.”
“We are planning to manufacture the initial doses
here in the U.S. and then later transfer the entire technology
to Nigeria, to enable us produce the COVID-19
vaccine and other vaccines that are important to our
country and Africa,” Dr Agwale said.
That’s the way to go for Nigeria, the largest economy
in Africa, and greatly endowed with human resources,
with many of them shaping the COVID-19 vaccines success
story in other countries!
LAST LINE: Next on the serial: Nigeria’s efforts to revive
the National Vaccine Production Laboratory (NVPL),
and a teamwork of Herbal Remedies, chaired by the Ooni
of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, YEKEM International Ltd
and the Afe Babalola University, to locally develop remedies
for COVID-19 and other deadly diseases.

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