COVID-19: Buhari Govt Insists AstraZeneca Vaccine Is Safe

The Federal Government has maintained that the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe for Nigerians.

Naija News reports that this is coming when many countries including the European Union has halted the use of the vaccine.

Speaking at the joint press conference of the Presidential Tasks Force (PTF) on Monday, the National Incident Manager (NIM) of the PTF on COVID-19, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, insisted that clinical trials had shown that the side effects are “generally mild’’.

According to him, WHO had, in the last three days, through a series of briefings, vouched for the vaccine’s safety and efficacy and that it had been proven that it had about 70 per cent efficacy level.

He said: “The arrival of the vaccines is something that is very good and exciting in the sense that a combination of the vaccine and the non-pharmaceutical interventions can help us see the light at the end of the tunnel within a very short period of time.

“However, we have suffered a major setback in the last few hours regarding the content safety and efficacy of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We have seen in the news how some countries have deferred the usage of this vaccine or have suspended its use. That list of the European countries is growing.

“However, it is very reassuring to see that the regulatory agencies in those countries have continued to emphasise that the vaccine is safe and that the incidence of blood clots reported in the patients is not higher than the risk of blood clotting in people who are not vaccinated. That is really something reassuring.“