CORRECTION: Nigerian scientists hunt for Covid-19 vaccine

Editor’s note: This article was initially published with a headline: “Nigerian scientists announce discovery of Covid-19 vaccine”, which was misleading. A correction has since been made to reflect the right picture.

Scientists in Nigeria are on the hunt for a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus, which has infected over 20,000 people, killing 518 others in that country with 6,878 recoveries.

The scientists from Universities across Nigeria and led by Oladipo Kolawole, a Specialist in Medical Virology, Immunology, and Bioinformatics are working expansively by exploring the SARS-CoV-2 genome from African countries to select the best possible potential vaccine candidates, The Guardian reported.

If all go well, according to plan, a vaccine is expected to be unveiled to the public in 18 months said Kolawole, per the outlet. The group by then would have completed the needed analysis and studies required as well as secured approvals from the WHO.

“We are glad that a vaccine that will provide a solution to a global problem like Coronavirus pandemic is coming from the garden.

“It is our passion to be a solution provider to such a global pandemic, and we are ready to throw our weights behind the team and make the vaccine a reality,” Prof. Solomon Adebola, the acting Vice-Chancellor of Adeleke University in Nigeria, said of the discovery.

Prof. Julius Oloke, the Head, Coordinating Unit of the Research Group and Vice-Chancellor of Precious Cornerstone University, Ibadan, added: “It’s a pleasure that we have come together to produce a vaccine at a time that the world is in need of solution to a ravaging pandemic.”

“It’s proof that we are working and not folding our hands or looking away from the problem. The vaccine is real. We have validated it severally. It is targeted at Africans, but will also work for other races.

“It will work. It cannot be faked. This is a result of the determination. It took a lot of scientific efforts. The population of those that need vaccines is more than those that need drugs. That is why the research focused on a vaccine.”

Nigeria joins Madagascar in an attempt by African countries to find solution to the deadly coronavirus. 

Madagascar launched a herbal cure for the contagion, which the WHO urged caution in consuming as the world continues to grapple with the devastations caused by the novel coronavirus and the heightened race to find a vaccine.

The herbal remedy called COVID-Organics and developed by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA), contains Artemisia, a plant used to treat malaria. 

 It is said to give results in seven days and was launched after being tested on 20 people over a period of three weeks.