Nigeria and other African countries must intensify efforts on research with pharmaceutical companies to start producing vaccines locally to combat COVID-19 and other diseases.

These were the resolutions of experts at a virtual media roundtable session on the Public Health Emergency Operation Centres (PHEOCs) in West Africa yesterday organised by The Rockefeller Foundation.

Director of the Senegalese Emergency Health Operations Center, Dr. Abdoulaye Bousso, said Nigeria should share experience with other African countries on how it manages health emergencies.

He said African countries should not expect donation of vaccines but instead develop strategies in reducing cases of coronavirus on the continent.

Special Advisor to the Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation, Africa Regional Office, Wadzanayi Muchenje, said the Foundation is in support of local production of vaccines.

This came as the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) urged Lagos State Office of Disability Affair (LASODA) to work with the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board (PHCB) to develop protocol to ensure that People With Disabilities (PWDs) have access to COVID-19 vaccine.

It also urged the Lagos State Ministry of Information to design information, education and communication materials that should reach the disability community.