Abuja – Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, the Director-General,
National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), says the agency will
partner with Cuba in producing vaccines against killer diseases.
Ogbadu made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) on Friday, in Abuja.
The director-general expressed regret over Nigeria’s failure to
produce vaccines against typhoid and other killer diseases.
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“We want to go into that because some decades ago Nigeria was
producing vaccine, but we have so many things in Nigeria that have
collapsed.
“So not a single human vaccine is produced right now in Nigeria.
We may be producing animal vaccines but not human vaccines and we feel
this cannot continue.
“So because this falls within our mandate, we have taken it upon
ourselves to ensure that Nigeria goes back to vaccine production.
“ And we thought of no better country to approach than Cuba, because
eight out of the 11 vaccines that are involved in the national
immunisation programmes in Cuba are produced in Cuba.
“ And we know Cuba being a third world country will flow more easily
with us than any other country in the sense that our situations are
similar.
“ So, we approached them and we entered into an agreement with them,
they are willing to assist us by transferring technology on vaccine
production to us.
“ So, we are following closely on that to ensure that we acquire the
recent technologies that are available in vaccine production.
“Some of our scientists have done some work in vaccine production but
their methods are outdated.”[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
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Ogbadu said technology transfer from Cuba had become necessary, adding
that the agency would attempt to produce vaccines even for export.
The director-general stressed the need for the agency to adhere to
best global practices in producing vaccines, adding that Cuba now
remained the best country to learn from.
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“We cannot bite more than we can chew.
“So because of that, we want to start with a vaccine that will be
generally acceptable to our experts when the workshop is held.
“But we are thinking of typhoid fever vaccine.
The good thing about vaccine production is that the same plant can be
fitted with different components to go into to several vaccine
productions.
“So once the plant is established, the same plant will be fitted
with various components to accommodate different vaccines that will be
of interest to us.
“Apart from that, Cuba also has a technology of polivalent vaccine
production which means that a couple of vaccine can be combined into
one.
“Thereby sparing the child that is receiving the vaccine, the agony
of taking several jabs, so that when you give one jab, that one jab
can deliver a couple of vaccines at the same time; that is polyvalent
vaccine development.
“So we have agreement with them to ensure that this vaccine is also
transferred to us.’’
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She said Nigerian scientists were exploring the possibility of
producing vaccines that would be “thermo-durable”, or
“thermo-resistant” because of the country’s perennial power outtage.
Ogbadu expressed the hope that regular power supply would soon be
restored because regular supply of power was critical to storage of
vaccines.
According to her, scientists at the agency are contemplating to come
up with the thermo-resistant vaccines that will withstand normal
temperatures.(NAN)