A Nigerian doctor, Dr. Onyema Ogbuagbu, is at the centre of the
Pfizer-led research, development and trials that have culminated in
a breakthrough for COVID-19 vaccines.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
Pfizer, after the conclusion of its trials, recently announced
that its COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
A few days after, Moderna also reported that its own version of
the COVID-19 vaccine was 94 per cent effective.
The announcement by Pfizer, followed by Moderna, remains a game
changer in the quest for COVID-19 vaccine.
Ogbuagbu, however, said he had been involved in the trials of
the vaccines by Pfizer
An Associate Professor of Medicine and infectious disease
specialist at Yale School of Medicine, Ogbuagbu, in an interview
with ABC News, said he was super excited by the results, because
having a very effective vaccine would help in achieving the
so-called herd immunity.
A 2003 graduate of medicine from the University of Calabar, he
noted that currently, there were insufficient doses of the vaccine
for everyone at the moment, but contended that enough doses should
be available by the first quarter of 2021.
He was of the belief that if a lot of people received the
vaccine and were protected against the virus, it would go a long
way in containing its spread, which has been ravaging the world
since the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, China.
Pfizer has said it would launch a pilot in four states in the
United States, but there have been concerns as the vaccine needed
to be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 degree Celsius).
But Ogbuagbu has said preparations were being made already to
surmount those challenges.
Ogbuagbu is in the clinician-educator track and Director of the
HIV Clinical Trials programme of the Yale AIDS Programme, Section
of Infectious Diseases of the Yale School of Medicine.
His profile obtained from the website of Yale School of Medicine
revealed that in response to the COVID pandemic, he was the Yale
principal investigator on multiple investigational therapeutic and
preventative clinical trials for COVID-19, including remdesivir
(now FDA approved), leronlimab and remdesivir and tocilizumab
combination therapy as well as the Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine
trial.
He is one of the twin sons of Prof. Chibuzo Ogbuagbu (former VC
of ABSU and Abia SSG), whose parents had in New Haven CT, when they
went for their doctoral programmes at Yale.
The Ogbuagbus were reported to have returned to Nigeria, where
Onyeama studied medicine and then returned to Yale.
Ogbuagbu’s responsibilities at Yale include educating and
training medical students, residents and infectious diseases
fellows in various capacities in inpatient and outpatient settings;
and through structured course work and other teaching sessions.
As a faculty of the HIV training track of the Yale-Internal
Medicine primary care programme and for over six years as a faculty
of the Human Resources for Health program in Rwanda, he has
extensive experience with curriculum development, structuring of
residency training programmes, and mentoring residents and
faculty.
In Rwanda, specifically, he mentored medical residents and
junior faculty in quality improvement and clinical research
projects that were locally relevant and addressing important
infectious diseases-related problems (particularly HIV/AIDS and
antimicrobial resistance).
In addition, Ogbuagbu has facilitated meaningful educational and
research collaborations between faculty and trainees across
institutions.
As the programme director of World Bank and HRSA-funded efforts
supporting the Liberia College of Physicians and surgeons
(LCPS)-run Internal medicine residency training programme, he
oversaw the selection and deployment of faculty to Liberia, and was
responsible for educational programmes and activities aimed at
strengthening the residency training programme.
Overall, his expertise and collective experiences to date had
seen him to design and run successful projects around capacity
building in low-resource settings, including developing and
implementing innovative and robust medical training and research
programmes for faculty, fellows, residents and students.
For five years running, he has been the director of the Yale
AIDS Programme, HIV clinical trials programme, and a principal
investigator on numerous pharmacokinetic, phase 2 and 3 safety and
efficacy trials of novel antiviral compounds (HIV).
More recently, given the alarming rate of new infections among
men who have sex with men (MSM), he had focused on HIV prevention
trials including being a co-principal investigator on a Yale CIRA
funded project, which has supported the formation of a cohort of
men, who have sex with men and are at high risk for HIV and are
engaged in HIV PrEP services in order to study the impact of
substance use on retention in care and adherence to PrEP.
Ogbuagbu is also a lead investigator on the international
DISCOVER trial evaluating TAF/FTC vs TDF/FTC for HIV prevention
among MSM and transgender women.
A Nigerian doctor, Dr. Onyema Ogbuagbu, is at the centre of the
Pfizer-led research, development and trials that have culminated in
a breakthrough for COVID-19 vaccines.
Pfizer, after the conclusion of its trials, recently announced
that its COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective.
A few days after, Moderna also reported that its own version of
the COVID-19 vaccine was 94 per cent effective.
The announcement by Pfizer, followed by Moderna, remains a game
changer in the quest for COVID-19 vaccine.
Ogbuagbu, however, said he had been involved in the trials of
the vaccines by Pfizer
An Associate Professor of Medicine and infectious disease
specialist at Yale School of Medicine, Ogbuagbu, in an interview
with ABC News, said he was super excited by the results, because
having a very effective vaccine would help in achieving the
so-called herd immunity.
A 2003 graduate of medicine from the University of Calabar, he
noted that currently, there were insufficient doses of the vaccine
for everyone at the moment, but contended that enough doses should
be available by the first quarter of 2021.
He was of the belief that if a lot of people received the
vaccine and were protected against the virus, it would go a long
way in containing its spread, which has been ravaging the world
since the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, China.
Pfizer has said it would launch a pilot in four states in the
United States, but there have been concerns as the vaccine needed
to be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 degree Celsius).
But Ogbuagbu has said preparations were being made already to
surmount those challenges.
Ogbuagbu is in the clinician-educator track and Director of the
HIV Clinical Trials programme of the Yale AIDS Programme, Section
of Infectious Diseases of the Yale School of Medicine.
His profile obtained from the website of Yale School of Medicine
revealed that in response to the COVID pandemic, he was the Yale
principal investigator on multiple investigational therapeutic and
preventative clinical trials for COVID-19, including remdesivir
(now FDA approved), leronlimab and remdesivir and tocilizumab
combination therapy as well as the Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine
trial.
He is one of the twin sons of Prof. Chibuzo Ogbuagbu (former VC
of ABSU and Abia SSG), whose parents had in New Haven CT, when they
went for their doctoral programmes at Yale.
The Ogbuagbus were reported to have returned to Nigeria, where
Onyeama studied medicine and then returned to Yale.
Ogbuagbu’s responsibilities at Yale include educating and
training medical students, residents and infectious diseases
fellows in various capacities in inpatient and outpatient settings;
and through structured course work and other teaching sessions.
As a faculty of the HIV training track of the Yale-Internal
Medicine primary care programme and for over six years as a faculty
of the Human Resources for Health program in Rwanda, he has
extensive experience with curriculum development, structuring of
residency training programmes, and mentoring residents and
faculty.
In Rwanda, specifically, he mentored medical residents and
junior faculty in quality improvement and clinical research
projects that were locally relevant and addressing important
infectious diseases-related problems (particularly HIV/AIDS and
antimicrobial resistance).
In addition, Ogbuagbu has facilitated meaningful educational and
research collaborations between faculty and trainees across
institutions.
As the programme director of World Bank and HRSA-funded efforts
supporting the Liberia College of Physicians and surgeons
(LCPS)-run Internal medicine residency training programme, he
oversaw the selection and deployment of faculty to Liberia, and was
responsible for educational programmes and activities aimed at
strengthening the residency training programme.
Overall, his expertise and collective experiences to date had
seen him to design and run successful projects around capacity
building in low-resource settings, including developing and
implementing innovative and robust medical training and research
programmes for faculty, fellows, residents and students.
For five years running, he has been the director of the Yale
AIDS Programme, HIV clinical trials programme, and a principal
investigator on numerous pharmacokinetic, phase 2 and 3 safety and
efficacy trials of novel antiviral compounds (HIV).
More recently, given the alarming rate of new infections among
men who have sex with men (MSM), he had focused on HIV prevention
trials including being a co-principal investigator on a Yale CIRA
funded project, which has supported the formation of a cohort of
men, who have sex with men and are at high risk for HIV and are
engaged in HIV PrEP services in order to study the impact of
substance use on retention in care and adherence to PrEP.
Ogbuagbu is also a lead investigator on the international
DISCOVER trial evaluating TAF/FTC vs TDF/FTC for HIV prevention
among MSM and transgender women.