Virologists and other medical practitioners have said the100, 000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine coming to Nigeria may waste and be useless if the country does not provide proper facilities for their transportation and storage.  

In an interview made with newsmen, the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria, Dr Patrick Dakum; a medical virologist, Dr Oladipo Kolawole, and a professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan, David Olaleye, gave their different remarks and advised the government to provide necessary facilities for the safety of COVID-19 vaccine in order to achieve its expected result.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Prof Babatunde Salako, said Nigeria does not have enough storage facility to store the vaccine at the moment.

He added that another challenge for the country was how to transport the vaccine at the temperature of -70 degree centigrade to rural areas.

“In future, Nigeria may need to buy other types of vaccines that do not require low temperature as Pfizer” he said.

Besides, the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria, Dr Patrick Dakum, commented that “Nigeria must conclude a vaccination plan and have fridges on site. There’s need for -70 freezers for storage before commencement of vaccination.

“A robust plan is needed including power back up plans at each of the vaccine storage and vaccination site. If the cold chain is compromised, the vaccine can become useless.”

A medical virologist at Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, Dr. Oladipo Kolawole, disclosed , “A key factor of the success of any vaccination rollout is the population’s attitude towards it. The government needs to sensitise the general population to this, give them adequate information likewise liaising with religious leaders to make sure their communities turn up to get their jabs.

“As regards the facilities or measures that must be put in place, we need good storage facilities to be in place, though Pfizer has developed cutting-edge packaging and storage solutions to meet the needs of the varied locations that will be distributing the vaccine – whether they are in major cities or rural towns.

“This statement was made by Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Albert Bourla, as regards what they have developed to meet the challenges of storage.”

He stressed that, “Vaccines must be stored properly from the time they are manufactured until they are administered. Proper maintenance of vaccines during transport is known as the cold chain. A proper cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain that includes all equipment and procedures used in the transport and storage and handling of vaccines from the time of manufacturer to administration of the vaccine.

“Vaccine effectiveness cannot be guaranteed unless the vaccine has been stored correctly. The main effect is that of the effectiveness and possibly some other health side effects.”

A professor of Virology, Department of Virology, University of Ibadan, Prof. David Olaleye, emphasized the need for the Federal Government to consider storage facilities as key before determining the type of vaccine to be imported.

“If the vaccine is degraded, it will not work. That is simple and that is for vaccines. For drugs, it is completely different and that is not what we are discussing at the moment. It may be poisonous or toxic for drugs, but for vaccines, most of the times, it may just not work.

“It means one has been given a false protection and it is very dangerous because one would be assuming wrongly. It is dangerous for someone to think he or she had been protected while still remaining unprotected,” he said.

He furthered that “I said it before that it is a matter of balance. It is a matter of a very delicate balance between what we have to do and the unfortunate situation of the pandemic.

“One basic fact is that this virus is not going to disappear overnight. The increasing rate of infection is an indication that this virus is widely adapted to human infection. Another fact is that respiratory viruses are very difficult to control because of the mode of spread.”

However, the President of Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof. Motso Onuoha, calmed the worries of Nigerians concerning the storage of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Onuoha assured that an existing cold chain system would take care of the storage of the vaccine.