Nigerian Government on Tuesday warned against patronizing a fake coronavirus vaccine, which it said was on sale in Kano State, north of Nigeria.
“You must ignore the Vaccine being hawked in Kano which is called ‘COVID19 Vaccine’. It is yellow in color, it’s not certified by anybody, please don’t patronize the hawkers,”Nigeria’s information minsiter Lai Mohammed said during the presidential taskforce on COVID19 briefing.
Mohammed further said the government has increased its enlightenment programs about the virus with over 90% Nigerians claimed to be aware of it.
Hundreds were reported to have died this week from an unconfirmed illness in kano. The Kano state government debunked suspicions these deaths were associated with the covid-19 pandemic saying it has commenced investigations to ascertain the actual cause of the deaths.
Scientists around the world are racing against time to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, which has killed more than 119,000 people and infected more than 1.9 million globally.
About a week ago, China approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines as it battles to contain imported cases and prevent a second wave of COVID-19.
The UK announced it will test a trial vaccine beginning this week. The human trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed at Oxford University are to begin on Thursday in the United kingdom, health secretary Matt Hancock announced.
Currently, more than 35 companies and academic institutions around the world are working on COVID-19 vaccines. The first human trials started last month for a vaccine produced by Boston-area biotech firm Moderna Therapeutics.
Pennsylvania-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals started testing its candidate vaccine earlier this month, and Novavax, a Maryland company, has said it will start trials in Australia in May.
Nigeria has recorded 873 cases of coronavirus cases with 197 being discharged while 28 people have died of the virus.
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