Benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the risk – NAFDAC DG

NEWS DIGEST – The Director-General of National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, on Wednesday said the benefit of being vaccinated against COVID-19, outweighs the risk in it.

The DG said this while speaking on Channels TV programme, ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Wednesday, said the vaccination exercise should not be stopped in Nigeria despite fears over the side effects.

The DG, however, denied rumours that the AstraZeneca vaccine has had side effects on those already vaccinated.

She insisted that it is not advisable to halt the vaccination in the country owing to the number of COVID-19 related deaths already recorded in the country.

“People are dying of COVID-19,” the NAFDAC boss said during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. “The vaccines should not be stopped unless it is a statistically massive occurrence of the side effect.”

“It is clear that these are serious issues, but the benefits outweigh the risk,” she said.

According to her, only six persons among the five-hundred workers and others who were vaccinated at the National Hospital Abuja, reported side effects.

She said other COVID-19 vaccines approved under emergency authorization have reported side effects on people who took the shot in countries where it is been administered.