The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, has lauded the European Medical Agency (EMA), for its effective work and transparency leading to the findings that the AstraZeneca vaccine is not associated with higher risk of blood clots.
The EMA had reaffirmed that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective following a thorough and painstaking scientific investigation.
Countries across Europe including Germany, France and Spain have since resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine.
In a statement signed by the Spokesman of the NPHCDA, Mohammed Ohitoto, in Abuja, Friday, Dr. Shuaib reaffirmed that the health and safety of the Nigerian citizens is the priority, adding that: “Administering safe and effective vaccines is a vital component in solving the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He stressed that: “Regulators and vaccine safety experts have a duty to investigate if an adverse effect is detected in order to determine whether it is caused by the vaccine.”
Dr. Shuaib, noted EMA’s findings and the restart of AstraZeneca use in Europe is very good news which “we hope will entirely reassure all Nigerians who have been concerned in recent days as we followed the developments in European countries.”
The statement also revealed that the World Health Organization (WHO) has also reaffirmed the safety and efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine, along with the UK medical regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The UK also reports it has not observed increased rates of blood clotting, and the UK has administered the highest number of AstraZeneca vaccines globally by a significant margin, to more than one-third of its population.
