CACOVID explains vaccines procurement, distribution plans

PRIVATE sector- led Coalition Against COVID19 ( CACOVID) has announced commencement of the process of buying vaccines through Federal Government, even as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC) is set to certify the drugs for use by Nigerians.

Administrator of CACOVID, Mrs. Zouera Youssoufou, while speaking in a monitored TV programme in Lagos, explained how the CACOVID Collegiate Fund works.

She said: “A dispute arose Monday night between BUA, and CACOVID over claims by the former that it had purchased one million doses of COVID- 19 vaccine for Nigeria.

“This came on a day Federal Government barred private sector from administering COVID- 19 vaccine, reserving the vaccination exclusively for National Primary Healthcare Development Agency ( NPHCDA) for safety reasons.”

BUA had said, in a statement on Monday, that it had paid for one million doses of Astrazeneca vaccine for Nigeria through the Afrexim Vaccine Programme, in partnership with CACOVID.

Youssoufou, said: “The way this works is that we, as a group, agree on what to actually purchase, on how to purchase it and what the modalities of the purchase would be. This is how the group has been working since we were created back in March 2020. As you know, we have several things, including testing, test kits and getting isolation centres, PPES, palliatives and communications.

“Purchase of the vaccines is very similar to purchase of testing supplies, meaning that we do this through very validated and subsidised means. Right now, there are three mechanisms in which Nigeria is participating. One is called COVAX, another one is called African Union Vaccine Acquisition Task Force, which is funded by Afreximbank, and the third one is the World Bank, which is also funding some of these vaccines.

“Nigeria as a country is a member of all these organisations. We, as CACOVID, the private sector coalition against COVID, our role is to support our government in what is needed to help our people in the context of this COVID- 19.

“The important thing that we all need to know is that there are several steps to procuring vaccines. The first thing is that governments are the ones who can actually buy vaccines. We as a private sector group, as individual companies, cannot buy vaccines, we can’t call Astrazeneca or Pfizer or Moderna to order vaccines from them.

“The most over- looked element in this discussion on that aspect about getting vaccines next week, is that Astrazeneca or any vaccine has yet to be approved by NAFDAC, which is our regulatory agency. So, without approval by NAFDAC, there is no vaccine that can come into Nigeria and be distributed to Nigerians or shot into the arms of Nigerians. I think this is where some of the misinformation had come in.”

BUA’S statement on Monday night read: “At the CACOVID steering committee meeting held today February 8, 2021 ( of which BUA is a member), members were informed by the CBN governor that CACOVID had been given the opportunity through the Afrexim platform to access and pay for 1million doses, provided payment was made today or tomorrow – failure which the opportunity to get those doses next week may be lost.