The American and Russian made vaccines were
approved for emergency use, according to the Director-General of NAFDAC,
Professor Moji Adeyeye.
She made the announcement on Thursday at a
news conference in Abuja.
The approval is coming after the World
Health Organization, expressed concerns over the Russian-made vaccine.
Professor Adeyeye explained that although
the Sputnik vaccine, produced in Russia, has not yet been approved by the World
Health Organisation, NAFDAC has carried out independent checks on the vaccine
and found that the benefits outweigh the risks.
She said, “Sputnik V is yet to receive the
EUL approval and therefore was subjected to full six-month review by NAFDAC.
The Agency was granted access to the dossiers and prior assessment reports of
Moderna and AstraZeneca from the WHO website at different times over the past
two months.
“The Agency did a thorough assessment of
each vaccine and were found to have the quality, safety, and efficacy
attributes, with the benefits far outweighing the risks.”
The approval of the vaccines come in the
wake of fears a third wave of the COVID-19 Delta variant looms in the country.