NAFDAC approves Moderna, Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has granted emergency use authorization for Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

It, however, granted a conditional approval for Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, disclosed this yesterday while briefing newsmen in Abuja.

She said the NAFDAC Vaccine Committee had been carefully assessing several vaccines despite the fact the vaccines have been approved by stringent regulatory countries or have received WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

She said a COVID-19 vaccine that had gone through the prior approval from either of these two sources had gone through quality, safety and efficacy evaluation which is a prerequisite for acceptance by COVAX Facility.

She added that most regulatory agencies across the world used this mechanism to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines.

She said most Moderna and AstraZeneca AZD1222 vaccines had received WHO EUL listing and were given expedited approvals.

She said Sputnik V was yet to receive the EUL approval and therefore was subjected to full six-months 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, she said.