NAFDAC approves Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine

Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib has said that the Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in Nigeria.

 Shuaib who made the announcement during a press briefing on Tuesday August 24, said the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) approved the vaccine three days ago.

 He said; 

 “NAFDAC has approved Sinopharm vaccine. The approval was done three days ago. And yes, Sinopharm vaccine has also received WHO certification. 

 “So, it is a potential vaccine that we could use. “There are so many vaccines out there, but one thing that we are very clear about is that we are not going to use all the available vaccines in Nigeria.

 “At some point, we are going to draw a line in terms of the number of vaccines we would use, so that we can keep a close watch on the number of vaccines we are utilising in Nigeria.”

 Shuaib also revealed that the vaccine which was developed by Sinopharm’s Beijing Institute of Biological Products, has two different acronyms which are BBIBP and BIBP. 

 He added;

 “It completed phase three trials in Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru and United Arab Emirates (UAE), with over 60,000 participants. 

BBIBP-CorV shares, similar technology with CoronaVac and Covaxin, other inactivated virus vaccines for COVID-19.

 “Its product name is SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine ‘Vero Cell’, not to be confused with the similar product name of CoronaVac.”