Nigeria Will Make COVID-19 Vaccine Affordable, Accessible -Osinbajo

Posted by Nwa Diokpa African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Saturday, September 5th, 2020

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, has assured Nigerians that the government will make sure that Nigerians do not lack the means to pay for the coronavirus vaccine.

He stated this in a statement on Thursday appealing to Europe to work closely with Africa to ensure that when the vaccine finally comes it shouldn’t be a thing for the rich only but it should be affordable and accessible.

Osinbajo stated this on Saturday in a statement issued to the press by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande.

It said: “Although Nigeria does not have the resources or means to pre-pay for a COVID-19 vaccine, we are fortunate to be a GAVI supported country and we urge the EU to lend support to GAVI’s effort to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.

“This way, poorer countries and their citizens will get the vaccines that they need at the same time as the rest of the world.”

Speaking on the necessity of an even distribution of the vaccine to contain the spread of the virus, Osinbajo stated that the first thing that should be considered “is to ensure widespread and equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine”.

He added: “Europe should work closely with Africa to ensure that when a vaccine is finally deployed, it should not be on the basis of the highest bidder but rather be made available at an affordable and in an accessible manner.

“This is a matter that should not be taken for granted. We saw during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in richer parts of the world, that orders for test kits and reagents by African countries were deemed too small and tended to be ignored.”