The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Commission, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has disclosed that there is no medicine without side effects.

Adeyeye made the disclosure on a live programme aired on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, which was monitored by WuzupNigeria.

She addressed speculations bothering on COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

Recall that the NAFDAC DG had on March 11 declared the vaccine safe and approved to be administered on Nigerians for the treatment of COVID-19.

Adeyeye admitted that though could be mild side effects but the overall benefits of the vaccine far outweigh them.

Speaking on the phases of vaccination, the pharmacist explained that over 20,000 people were involved in its Phase 3.

She noted that Phases 1 to 3 are different based on the number of subjects.

“Phase one has fewer people, phase two has more than phase one while phase three has over 20,000 subjects. When you have over 20,000 people and they say 10 have side effects, statistically or epidemiologically, you categorise it as benefits outweighing the risk.

“There is no medicine that doesn’t have side effects, especially when it is going through development. It is whether the benefit outweighs the risk and the conclusion is that from all indications, quality, safety, efficacy, the benefits outweighed the side effects.

“The side effects may be soreness or tenderness in the arms, it may be fever. There are few cases of people that showed allergic reactions. So everybody taking the vaccine must be around for about 45 minutes for the nurses and doctors to watch to make sure that everything is fine.”