WHO disqualifies Nigeria from Global vaccine bid

The World Health Organisation-led COVAX global initiative has failed to shortlist Nigeria for the Pfizer vaccines following its inability to meet the standard requirement of storing the vaccines at the required -70 degrees Celsius.

The Nigerian government had stated that it was expected to receive 100,000 doses through the COVAX initiative, which was set up to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.

Speaking at a virtual press conference which Saturday PUNCH attended, the Director, WHO, African Region, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said only four African countries were shortlisted for the Pfizer vaccine out of the 13 that applied.

Moeti said WHO could not risk the Pfizer vaccines being wasted.

She said, "Around 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries – Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia. This vaccine has received WHO Emergency Use Listing but requires countries to store and distribute doses at minus 70 degrees Celsius.

"To access an initial limited Pfizer vaccine volume, countries were invited to submit proposals. Thirteen African countries submitted proposals and were evaluated by a multi-agency committee based on current mortality rates, new cases and trends, and the capacity to handle the vaccine's ultra-cold chain needs.

"This announcement allows countries to fine-tune their planning for COVID-19 immunisation campaigns. We urge African nations to ramp up readiness and finalise their national vaccine deployment plans. Regulatory processes, cold chain systems and distribution plans need to be in place to ensure vaccines are safely expedited from entry ports to delivery. We can't afford to waste a single dose."

The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Prof Babatunde Salako, had told this newspaper that there was not enough space at the moment to store the Pfizer vaccines at that temperature.

But the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, had described the report as fake, saying Nigeria could store the vaccines and had taken journalists on a tour of its facility in Abuja.

Saturday Punch reports that Nigeria was expected to be on the list of African countries to receive the first set of Pfizer vaccines because of its infection rate, which is now the sixth-highest on the continent.

Only South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia have higher infection rates than Nigeria. But Morocco and Egypt have already independently obtained vaccines and begun distribution. In contrast, South Africa, which has the highest burden of the disease in Africa, has already procured one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, produced in India but has yet to begin distribution.

However, Nigeria has received no COVID-19 vaccine even as its rate of infection has continued to surge.

Unlike the other vaccines on the market, the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, which has the highest WHO rating, is expected to be stored at 70 degrees Celsius which Nigeria could not meet.

However, the WHO regional director said countries that failed to make the Pfizer list could get the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine later in the month, although the health organisation has not yet endorsed it.

This newspaper learnt that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine does not need to be stored in a cold facility.