NAFDAC Joins £3.7 million Oxford-led Research Consortium to Strengthen Vaccine Quality Surveillance in Nigeria

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has joined an international research consortium awarded £3.7 million to advance technologies for detecting substandard, degraded and falsified vaccines, marking a significant step in strengthening vaccine quality surveillance in Nigeria.

The funding, provided through the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council (MRC) Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS), will support a three-year collaborative project led by the Medicine Quality Research Group (MQRG) at the University of Oxford.

The consortium brings together researchers and regulatory institutions from several countries, including NAFDAC, Obafemi Awolowo University, the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the University of East London, the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand, and other international partners.

Strengthening post-marketing vaccine surveillance

According to NAFDAC, the project builds on the Vaccine Identity Evaluation (VIE) Consortium established during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the global challenge of substandard and falsified vaccines.

In Nigeria, the initiative will support post-marketing surveillance through the evaluation of innovative screening technologies, routine laboratory testing of vaccine batches before release, and health economics studies to determine the most cost-effective approaches for monitoring vaccine quality.

The research will also assess how emerging technologies perform under real-world conditions, providing evidence to guide their future adoption within regulatory systems.

Why vaccine quality surveillance matters

While vaccines undergo rigorous evaluation before approval, maintaining their quality throughout manufacturing, storage, transportation and distribution remains essential. Exposure to unsuitable temperatures, poor handling or deliberate falsification can compromise vaccine quality and reduce public confidence in immunisation programmes.

Post-marketing surveillance enables regulators to monitor products after they have entered the supply chain, helping to identify quality issues that may not be apparent during pre-market assessment.

For Nigeria, strengthening these surveillance systems could enhance the country's ability to detect poor-quality vaccines more rapidly while supporting evidence-based regulatory decisions.

Building on previous scientific advances

The new project expands earlier work undertaken by the University of Oxford's Medicine Quality Research Group in collaboration with its Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry, the STFC Central Laser Facility and the UK Research and Innovation Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Previous studies successfully adapted advanced scientific techniques capable of detecting degraded and falsified vaccines within supply chains. The newly funded phase will further refine these technologies and evaluate their effectiveness under conditions similar to those encountered in routine vaccine distribution.

Implications for pharmacy and public health

The partnership is expected to generate evidence that could improve the way vaccine quality is monitored throughout the supply chain, supporting stronger immunisation programmes and reinforcing public trust in vaccines.

For pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, more effective surveillance systems could strengthen confidence in vaccine quality while providing regulators with improved tools to safeguard public health.

As Nigeria's national medicines regulatory authority, NAFDAC said it will play a central role in implementing the project by strengthening vaccine quality surveillance and supporting science-based regulatory decision-making.

The initiative also reflects growing international collaboration in addressing medicine and vaccine quality challenges that extend beyond national borders.

Why this matters

The World Health Organization estimates that substandard and falsified medical products remain a persistent global public health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. By participating in this international research consortium, NAFDAC will contribute to developing new technologies that could improve the detection of poor-quality vaccines, strengthen regulatory oversight, and help protect patients through more reliable vaccine quality monitoring.