A group of scientists under the aegis of Living Science Foundation has called on the Federal Government to drop the plan to incorporate a newly developed malaria vaccine into the routine immunisation schedule in the country.
This was contained in a press statement signed by the president of the Foundation, Joshua Ojo and the Chairman, Planning Committee, 9th National Conference on Environment and Health, Adeniyi Oginni, organised by the Foundation, and held at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The group, which also raised concerns over the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organism foods in the country, said the lack of appropriate labelling of GMO foods was also a violation of people’s right to know the nature of the food they are consuming.
It subsequently called on the Nigeria Biosafety Management Agency and the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control to conduct or commission appropriate chronic toxicity testing that transparently ascertain the safety of GM food products before their deployment for public consumption in the country.
The statement further read, “Also, these Agencies are enjoined to comply with the Nigerian laws, that require that such products, if eventually licensed, are appropriately labelled to give the public informed choice in what they feed into their bodies.”
Commenting on the plan of government to add malaria vaccine to routine immunisation, the group recalled that the Federal Government, in a recent joint press release with the UNICEF, GAVI and the World Health Organisation, announced the arrival of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine in Nigeria.
It added that the release also disclosed that the government proposed the malaria vaccine incorporation into the country’s routine immunisation schedule.
Opposing the idea, the group said that besides the huge resources that would be needed to administer it, which may affect spending on other critical areas of the country’s health needs, rather than routine mass deployment, it suggested that, the malaria vaccine should be made available only to those with favourable risk-benefit profile.
The press statement copy of which was obtained in Osogbo on Sunday further read partly, “About a week ago, on Thursday, October 17, the Federal Government of Nigeria in a joint Press Release with UNICEF, GAVI and the WHO, announced the arrival of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine in Nigeria, and its proposed incorporation into routine immunization schedule in the country.
“We have nothing but commendation for the salutary efforts of scientists who doggedly and diligently laboured to come up with the malaria vaccines. Our concerns with the products, however, have to do with the manner of its marketing and deployment, which is not consistent with the product description given by its developers. These concerns, published… some eighteen months ago, have obviously been totally ignored with the present action by the government.
“Rather than routine mass deployment, the malaria vaccine ought to be made available only to those with favourable risk-benefit profile, for instance as is done with the rabies vaccine.
“On the one hand, it is only but 18 months ago that the NAFDAC announced the decision that Nigeria would participate in the clinical trials for the R21/Matrix-M vaccine. In our comment at that time, we had pointed out the outcome noted in the similar RTS, malaria vaccine which needed to be cleared before any mass deployment.
“Those adverse outcomes, well-acknowledged by the World Health Organization itself, included: “a ten times higher rate of meningitis, a higher chance of cerebral malaria, and a doubling of deaths from all causes in girls who had received the vaccine and not the placebo. It is deeply concerning that these worries could be adjudged cleared in less than two years of clinical trial.”
It lamented poor attitude to medical and health records keeping, noting that evaluation of the effectiveness or otherwise of policies and interventions has been hampered by poor record-keeping attitude, demanding change in attitude by the concerned authorities.
It also urged the media to pay attention to the issues raised as such attention and interests were needed to enable the government to resist undue pressures that are often exerted on it by some foreign interests who usually manipulate the issues to their advantage
