The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned Nigerians to ensure the Astrazeneca vaccine being administered on them has the original label.
NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, gave the warning in a statement on Sunday.
She said the original Oxford Astrazeneca University (AZOU) vaccine has been contracted to India’s world largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SIIPL), to produce in large quantity.
Adeyeye said: “AZOU gave the license of its vaccine to Serum Institute of India PVT Ltd, (SIIPL), to manufacture this vaccine at a commercial scale.
“SIIPL gave the vaccine the trade name COVISHIELD, it is the result of a cooperation and a technology transfer from AstraZeneca – University of Oxford to SIIPL.
“SIIPL is now the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally.”
She added that both COVISHIELD manufactured by SIIPL and COVID-19 vaccine Astrazeneca, manufactured by Astrazeneca/Oxford University vaccine are the same vaccine.
