By Esther Yakubu
The Nigerian Medical Association President, Professor Innocent Ujah, on Monday said reactions to vaccines differ among different races, saying COVID-19 vaccines being imported into the country must undergo a quick clinical trial before it is administered to citizens.
“If the vaccines come to Nigeria, we need to quickly do our own evaluation of that vaccine,”
Ujah spoke during an appearance on Channels Television programme monitored in Abuja.
“I cannot say with 100 percent certainty that in the process of developing this vaccine, in the clinical trials, whether any African countries were involved. I’m not too sure, but it’s possible.
“Then because of the biology, because of the environment, because of our genetic composition, we need to do our own clinical trials very quickly before it can be used on Nigerians. While we do not question the efficacy and safety, the responses vary from place to place.
“Recall that when we were using chloroquine, the southern part was not responding to chloroquine, some parts of the north were. But in totality it was thought that chloroquine were no longer effective and we changed.”
The NMA is also seeking additional funding from the federal government as doctors continue to suffer from the deadly pandemic.
