FG bans private sector from importing Covid-19 vaccines

The Federal Government says the private sector is not allowed to import Covid-19 vaccines, adding that all vaccines must come through the government.

Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, stated this on Tuesday.

Nigeria rolled out its vaccination programme against the lethal coronavirus infection on Friday with about four million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine. 

The vaccine was earlier approved for use in the country by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

Speaking on Tuesday, the minister said private sector participation of the vaccine distribution was not allowed at the moment and the government won’t be responsible for any outcome of such “backdoor channel”.

Mamora said, “Before any vaccine will be given by any manufacturer, there must have been an indemnity clause and that is why we made it clear that any vaccine that does not come in through the right government channel, we will not allow it because if it is not coming in through government, we cannot take responsibility for it.

“We have been making this clear to everyone and we are not inclined to at this point allow private sector participation in terms of bringing in the vaccines unless private sector is going to pay into the account of the Afrexim Bank and then the vaccines can then be supplied from the source that we can verify and that we know.”