Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has called on Nigerians to calm down as concerns over safety of Astrazeneca vaccine, causes anxiety in the country.
There has been concerns over the safety of the Oxford manufactured vaccine, as several countries including Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Thailand, suspend its use following reports of blood clothing among those administered the jab.
But the NAFDAC official is confident, that the recently inaugurated and distributed vaccine to states, won't kill anyone, and calls for calm. In fact, she said the benefit of AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risk and the side effect.
Adeyeye, who stated this on Thursday in Abuja, shortly after she got vaccinated, said that NAFDAC went through the application dossier of the vaccine before it was approved to be administered on Nigerians for the treatment of COVID-19.
“When we got the dossier or the application package of the vaccine, we went through it line by line, but before we got the application itself, we went through other assessments.
“I am talking about their assessment report so that we are prepared and guided when we start our own and that was exactly what happened.
“We conclude based on quality, safety and efficacy because we have to depend on the report, this particular AstraZeneca vaccine, over 20, 000 people were involved in phase three of the report,’’ she said.
Adeyeye said from all indications of quality and efficacy, the effectiveness of AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risk, as it has already been scrutinised.
She noted that there was no medicine without its side effect, especially when still going through the developmental stage.
She said that the agency also believed in herbal medicine, but it must be backed with research before such could be approved.