NAFDAC warns against the circulation of fake coronavirus vaccines

Nigerian authorities have warned on Friday against the circulation of fake coronavirus vaccines in the country, where 10 million real doses of the shots are expected in March.

“There are reports of fake vaccines in Nigeria,” the Director-General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food Drug and Administration Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye said during a virtual press conference.

“NAFDAC is pleading with the public to beware. No Covid Vaccines have been approved by NAFDAC,” she added. “Fake vaccines can cause Covid-like illnesses or other serious diseases that could kill.”

Nigeria’s anticipated vaccines add to 100,000 expected doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine although it wasn’t specified which type of jab would be used for the 10 million doses arriving in March.

It was also unclear whether the batch would be financed by the African Union (AU) or as part of COVAX, which links the World Health Organization (WHO) with private partners to work for pooled procurement and equitable distribution.

In April last year, black market coronavirus tests flourished in Nigeria because citizens were reluctant to be subjected to mandatory quarantine among other reasons.