Echotitbits – Nigeria News

Tag: COVID-19 Vaccine

  • President of Nigeria, VP, Others Will Take COVID-19 Vaccine on Live TV

    President of Nigeria, VP, Others Will Take COVID-19 Vaccine on Live TV

    It has now been confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari, his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, and other prominent Nigerians would be among the first set of Nigerians to receive the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine on live television.

    This was disclosed by the Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, while speaking on Thursday in Abuja during the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.

    READ ALSO: 731 NYSC Members in Batch B Test Positive for COVID-19

    Shuaib said: “This is to help drive awareness on the virus and the vaccine administration in the country when it finally arrived.”

    READ ALSO: Lagos Deputy Governor Loses Brother to Complications Arising from COVID-19

    He urged Nigerians not to be hesitant on the vaccines when they arrive as key government officials like president, vice president and SGF would take it on live TV.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • AstraZeneca, Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine may be ready in December

    AstraZeneca, Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine may be ready in December

    A coronavirus vaccine may come in a matter of months just as about mkmnnn persons have died of the virus globally.

    According to a British media report on Saturday, AstraZeneca and Oxford University jointly-developed COVID-19 vaccine may be rolled out in six months.

    The vaccine, which is currently under the last phase of trial, may be given a clearance by health regulators in December.

    The Times quoted UK government sources involved in the making and distribution of vaccines as saying that a full vaccine roll-out programme for adults could take six months or less after approval.

    “We are looking at closer to six months and it is likely to be far shorter than that,” a government source said.

    In line with a protocol developed by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, any approved vaccine will then be given to all over 65s, followed by younger adults at higher risk, which could include those from ethnic minorities as well as those with serious health issues based on their higher risk from the deadly virus.

    Next in line will be people over 50, with younger adults at the back of the queue.

    The UK government has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine once it is ready for roll-out and the doses are being manufactured before it has been shown to be successful in order to save time once it clears all the regulatory stages, British media reported.

  • COVID-19 Vaccine: NAFDAC Advises against Use of Covifor Remidesivir

    COVID-19 Vaccine: NAFDAC Advises against Use of Covifor Remidesivir

    National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned Nigerians against the use of Covifor Remidesivir 100 mg Injection for treatment of any illness.

    NAFDAC Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

    According to her, the label on the vaccine indicates that it was “not for distribution in the United States, Canada or European Union,” thus creating suspicion about its efficacy.

    READ ALSO:

    Russia Delivers New Coronavirus Vaccine to Nigeria

    “The product is suspicious, and it could possibly be a falsified product. The general public is hereby warned to desist from the use of such product,” Adeyeye declared.

    Remdesivir is an antiviral medication currently being studied for the treatment of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • Russia Delivers New Coronavirus Vaccine to Nigeria

    Russia Delivers New Coronavirus Vaccine to Nigeria

    In keeping to her promise, Russia has begun mass deliveries of her newly discovered Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine to the world as the country handed over the vaccine to Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, on Friday in Abuja.

    Russia had registered the Sputnik V adenoviral vector-based vaccine and it had been described as the world’s first despite it not having undergone large-scale trials to prove its safety and effectiveness.

     

    Russian Federation Ambassador to Nigeria, Alexey Shebarshin, handed over the vaccine to officials of the Ministry of Health during the envoy’s courtesy visit to the ministry.

    Shebarshin explained that countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Mexico, among others have expressed interest in the Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine.

    The Ambassador charged Nigeria to put together a team to interface with his Embassy to drive the process of human trials not just for the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, but to explore further disease and health areas where the Russian Federation has expertise to manage with vaccines.

    Shebarshin admitted that he’s a non-scientist, explaining that he’s in the ministry to formally hand over the Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19 to Nigeria with an aide memoir which explains the details for Nigerian teams to study and get ready for further researches, patronage and application.

    Responding, Ehanire said Nigeria has been participating in series of knowledge exchange, contacting different research bodies and countries to find solutions to the COVID-19 challenge.

    The minister admitted that Nigeria has contacted the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Nigeria for right of access immediately the Russian COVID-19 vaccine was announced.

    Russian Envoy and ministry’s officials reached a consensus decision to immediately refer the vaccine to the necessary professional institutes and agencies of the Federal Ministry of Health beginning with the National Agency for Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Nigeria Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), and for a team of scientists and advisors to the ministry to get to work on possible patronage of the Russian vaccine to alleviate the plight of Nigerians under the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A ministerial team is also expected to be raised to continue further engagement with the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Nigeria on the vaccine as well as other areas of interests highlighted at the meeting.

    Ehanire was supported by the Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, and other top management of the ministry and other Nigerian scientists, researchers and advisors, who participated in the meeting online.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • UK economy plunges into recession, Trump awards sixth vaccine contract

    UK economy plunges into recession, Trump awards sixth vaccine contract

    For the first time since 2008, the United Kingdom’s economy has plunged into a recession due to a 2020 second quarter shrink.

    The country’s economy decline of a record 20.4% in Q2, followed a 2.% drop in Q1.

    FILE – In this Tuesday, March 24, 2020 file photo, a woman wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus, waits at a bus stop on a deserted Oxford Street in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File) The Associated Press

    Echotitbits gathered Wednesday morning that the development signaled the deepest slump UK economy has since 1954.

    READ ALSO:  US: Joe Biden names Kamala Harris, a Female Senator as running mate

    Elsewhere, United States President, Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a contract awarded to US biotech company, Moderna for the production of 100 million doses of “an eventual” coronavirus vaccine. The deal, which is the sixth since May, is worth $1.5 billion.

    Coronavirus Vaccine PHOTO: Getty images

    READ ALSO: Trump Fulfills Promise as Nigeria Receives 200 Ventilators from US

    At a White House news conference, President Trump said: “I’m pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Moderna to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine candidate.

    “The federal government will own these vaccine doses, we’re buying them”, he said.