Nigeria Not Ready for Local Vaccine Production — Health Minister

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Iziaq Salako, has maintained that the country is still unable to produce vaccines locally, stressing that several economic and technical hurdles must first be addressed before such a milestone can be achieved.

The minister made the clarification on Thursday during an appearance on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme monitored by PulseNets. He was responding to questions on the nation’s current vaccine production capacity.

When pressed on whether Nigeria has reached the point of manufacturing, Salako said

“Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Health Value Chain, one major priority is boosting genuine local vaccine development.”

PulseNets learnt that the minister emphasised that vaccine production is a highly specialised process that demands rigorous economic evaluation. He noted that no country can sustain local manufacturing unless it is financially practical and competitive.

According to him, “It goes beyond the desire to produce vaccines. You must ask if we have a comparative advantage. If the cost of producing within the country exceeds the cost of importation, then the intention becomes counterproductive. Proper analysis is non-negotiable.”

Salako added that Nigeria’s population—estimated at over 240 million—remains a strategic asset, but the domestic market must still operate in line with international benchmarks to attract investment and guarantee sustainability.

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Despite the current limitations, he assured Nigerians that the nation’s health security architecture is robust enough to detect and respond to global disease outbreaks whenever necessary.