Covishieldtm vaccine produced by Astrazeneca/Oxford University, NAFDAC clarifies

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has clarified that COVISHIELD^tm is manufactured by AstraZeneca – University of Oxford to SIIPL.

The management of the NAFDAC gave the clarification in a statement in Abuja, on Sunday.

According to the agency: “AstraZeneca and Oxford University (AZOU) originally developed the ChAdOx1 recombinant adenoviral vector vaccine to be used for prevention of COVID-19 disease. AZOU gave the license of its vaccine to Serum Institute of India PVT Ltd (SIIPL) to manufacture this vaccine at commercial scale.

“SIIPL is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world and the company got the license by signing manufacturing agreement with AstraZeneca (AZ)/Oxford University to manufacture this vaccine. SIIPL gave the vaccine the trade name COVISHIELD^TM .

“COVISHIELD^TM is the result of a cooperation and a technology transfer from AstraZeneca – University of Oxford to SIIPL.

“Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. is now the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 billion doses) which includes Polio vaccine as well as Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines.

“Vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute are accredited by the World Health Organization, Geneva and are being used in around 170 countries across the globe in their national immunization programs, saving millions of lives throughout the world.

“Both COVISHIELD™ manufactured by Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd and COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca manufactured by AstraZeneca are the same vaccine – ChAdOx1 nCoV- 19 Corona Virus Vaccines (Recombinant).

“COVISHIELD^TM was granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the World Health Organisation on 15^th February, 2021 and it is one of the listed vaccines under the COVAX Facility.”