Coronavirus: UK approves Pfizer’s vaccine

*Rolls out next week, *IOM, British govt donate PPE to Nigeria

UNITED Kingdom has become the first Western nation to approve Coronavirus vaccine, the first dose of which would be rolled out across the country next week.

This came as the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, with support from the British High Commission donated Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, and other materials to Nigeria’s 19 ports of entry, POE, to boost the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, stated this yesterday, after UK regulators granted emergency authorization for a vaccine made by US pharma giant, Pfizer, and its German partner, BioNTech.

Hancock said: “Help is on the way, as the final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of Pfizer’s vaccine shows it was 95 per cent effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety concerns.’’

The announcement means the UK has vaulted past the United States and European Union in the race to approve a vaccine, months into a pandemic that has killed almost 1.5 million people worldwide.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla hailed the emergency authorization as “a historic moment in the fight against COVID-19.

“The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine —enough to vaccinate 20 million people,’’ Bourla said.

Hancock said an initial 800,000 doses would be available in the UK next week, and “we’ll then deploy it at the speed that it’s manufactured” by Pfizer at its facilities in Belgium. The bulk of the roll out will come next year.

Elderly people in care homes, along with health workers and other vulnerable people, will be top of the priority list.

In a statement, the health department said the approval follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, MHRA, who have concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

“The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, JCVI, will shortly publish its latest advice for the priority groups to receive the vaccine, including care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and the clinically extremely vulnerable.

“Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the news as “fantastic” in a tweet, adding that “it’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.”

Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, with support from the British High Commission, has donated Personal Protective Equipment PPE and other materials to Nigeria’s 19 Ports of Entry POE in order to boost the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At a ceremony to hand over the equipment to Port Health Services, PHS, and the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, IOM’s Chief of Mission, Mr. Frantz Celestin, reiterated the need to protect those on the front lines.

The POE which got the donations were Murtala Muhammed International Airport (Lagos State), Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (Abuja), Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (kano State), Port Harcourt International Airport (Rivers State) and Akanu Ibiam International Airport (Enugu State).

Others include land borders in Jibia (Katsina State), Illela (Sokoto State), Idiroko (Ogun State), Maigatari (Jigawa State)and Mfum (Cross River State).

Also included were the Apapa Sea Port in Lagos State and Tin Can Sea Ports in Lagos State, Onne Sea Port (Rivers State), Warri Wharf (Delta State), Port Harcourt Wharf (Rivers State), Calabar Sea Port (Cross River State) and Brass Wharf (Bayelsa State).

“The PPEs and other equipment we are handing over today (yesterday) is a step in the right direction to encourage the continued support to these frontline agencies.''

In addition to the consignment you see today for Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, there are various PPEs and hygiene supplies in stock for 18 air, sea and land border ports across the country.

“I am very honoured to hand over these to PHS and NIS, as testament of the commitment from the British government and IOM to support border management in Nigeria,” said Celestin, who was represented by Yuki Daizumoto, IOM Nigeria Programme Coordinator.

In his remarks, Health Minister, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the project, named “Immediate Response to COVID-19 Pandemic for Effective Border Management in Nigeria”, sponsored by the government of the United Kingdom and implemented by the IOM, in partnership with PHS and NIS, is vital to strengthening and sustaining the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as the country is set to fully reopen its point of entries.

According to him, the selected 19 POEs were only the first set of beneficiaries of a range of interventions, which include “IPC materials, fogging machines and knapsack sprayers, PPE items, IEC materials for education and awareness, three pre-fabricated isolation units and computers.”

Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Ms Gill Atinson, stressed he importance of collaboration in the fight against the pandemic.

“This, of course, is just the first step, and further support will soon arrive in the shape of the supply of ambulances to Port Harcourt and Kano airports, isolation facilities at Apapa and Warri Sea ports, and the two Northern mega land borders at Illella and Jibiya, and the installation of thermal scanners for all five international airports,’’ she stated.