Nigeria’s quest to deepen local production of vaccines received a boost on Friday with the launch of the National Plan for Vaccine Research and Development and Local Production.
Tunji Alausa, the minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, said the national plan would serve as a template to guide the end-to-end production of vaccines. He noted that the objective of the plan was to reduce dependence on imported vaccines, outlining it as a comprehensive blueprint for the entire vaccine production process within the country.
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Developed through a novel bottom-up approach, the national plan resulted from a year-long collaboration between the European Union, the Bulgarian Government, and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) on behalf of the Nigerian government.
During the unveiling in Abuja, the minister also observed that the national plan would complement the National Vaccine Policy.
He lauded NIPRD for spearheading the initiative and expressed confidence that, with local and international support, Nigeria’s vaccine production efforts would progress swiftly.
“Even as you have now moved to support the next phase of this project, which will lead us to look at domesticating vaccine production”, he added.
Yanko Yordanov, the Bulgarian ambassador to Nigeria, assured of his country’s support and partnership towards the contextual exploration of high-level research activities in Nigeria.
On her part, Samuela Isopi, the European Union ambassador to Nigeria, commended NIPRD for the timely intervention and its efforts at ensuring that Nigeria becomes a hub of production of medicines in the African sub-region.
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