Nigeria Set to Resume Vaccine Production, Eyes $280m From Export
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The Federal Government is set to produce vaccines for consumption in the country and hopes to get $280 million exporting them to African countries.
The Chairman of the National Immunisation Financing Task Force Team (NIFT), Dr. Ben Anyene told the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu in Abuja yesterday, that when fully in production, vaccines from Nigeria will cater for seven million children. They could also yield $280 million in export.
This will be the second time Nigeria is producing vaccines for local use and export. Nigeria produced a few vaccines including small pox vaccines in the 1940s, beginning from 1947 precisely. Local production was, however, stopped in 1991.
According to Anyene, the $120 million loan obtained from the World Bank in 2014 for vaccine importation is what has taken care of the country’s vaccine needs from 2015, and will do so till the end of 2016.
Source: The Guardian (link opens in a new window)
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