Tomori: Poor Preparation Responsible for COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Challenges

ByOnyebuchi Ezigbo

A renowned Professor of Virology and Chairman, Expert Review Committee of COVID19 pandemic intervention, Oyewole Tomori, yesterday said Nigeria would have prevented the current uncertainty over supply and availability of COVID-19 vaccines if the country had acted promptly to order for the vaccines.

Tomori also said self-interest and lack of national interest was responsible for the inability of the country to establish and sustain factories to produce various vaccines, including that of COVID-19, locally.

Nigeria is currently experiencing shortages of COVID-19 vaccine as the roll-out of the vaccination programme has been halted after the first phase due to lack of more doses for deployment.

The federal government has indicated that it is yet to secure confirmation for the delivery of the next consignment of COVID-19 vaccines being procured through the Covax facility.

Tomori disclosed these to journalists at the public presentation of a book: ‘30 Laws for Good Health’, written by a medical doctor and Publisher of the Healthcare Magazine, Dr. Bola Olaosebikan.

He stated that even if the country decided to pay for vaccines now, it is still going to take some time for supplies to come because many countries are queuing up for the vaccines too.

According to him, “It was due to lack of early preparedness that brought the country where it now.

“It is for the federal government to be courageous enough to go out there and purchase the vaccine .The countries that had the vaccines prepared early enough; paid for it in advance, and took the gamble even when the vaccines were not yet ready.

“Some countries that were active went and purchased the vaccines when they saw that the vaccines are ready, while those of us that were inactive are still waiting for donations.”

On the slow progress being made towards establishing vaccine production factories in country, the professor blamed self-interest and lack of political will to prioritise issues in the health sector.

Tomori, however, expressed the hope that the country would witness a turning point in its quest to restart local production of vaccines before the end of the year, adding that some progress have been made by the bio-vaccine company in this direction.

Earlier, the author of the book, Olaosebikan, said the solution to the viral diseases lies in the use of natural therapy, “which can effectively tackle infectious diseases in our environment.”

He said currently, there are a number of herbal medicines that have scaled through the tests by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and are awaiting the next stages of clinical trials before being recommended for use.