Chairman of the House Representative Committee on Health Institutions, Amos Magaji, has emphasised the need to accelerate local vaccine production in the country, given the dwindling donor funding for immunisation and other healthcare services.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Magaji argued that it was not sustainable for the country to continue to procure vaccines from abroad, adding that the National Assembly was committed to ensuring that local vaccine production is supported.

He said: “Many children have died due to preventable illnesses, that is why when we come to the issue of vaccines, we are not only speaking loudly about the funding for vaccines, we are also talking about domestic production of vaccines. With the dwindling funding that we are experiencing all over the world, we cannot afford to be using so much money to procure vaccines abroad. If we manufacture vaccines here, it’s also going to build local capacity. It’s going to be cheaper”.

Magaji decried the delay in releasing funds for immunisation in the country, stressing that the committee would track, follow up, and push for the funds to be released.

He emphasised the need to include critical immunisation-related expenditures in the first-line charge, stressing that preventable childhood deaths and worsening maternal mortality could not wait for bureaucratic budget releases.