People living with HIV caution members on Abalaka’s vaccine

By Hassan Zaggi
Correspondent, Abuja
TheNetwork of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) has warn its members not to be lured into patronising Dr Jeremiah Abalaka's vaccine, saying currently, there is no known cure for the virus.
The warning came on the heels of a recent declaration by a Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, that the ban on Dr Abalaka's HIV vaccine was illegal and inconsequential.
The National Coordinator of NEPWHAN, Edward Ogenyi, gave the warning in an interview withDaily Independentin Abuja on Tuesday, reiterating that any HIV patient that buys the vaccine is doing so at his or her own risk.
He, however, disclosed that his group will, in the next few days, embark on a massive enlightenment campaign to its members nationwide to educate them about the judgment so that they will not fall victims to fraudsters who will use the judgment to deprive them of their hard earned resources in their desperate move to get cure for the virus.
"I don't think the judgment is about the effectiveness of Abalaka's vaccine. Based on my understanding of the judgement, the judge was saying that there was no guideline to say that this is what you are supposed to do when you are developing a vaccine in this country.
"The judgement has a lot of implications considering where we are in the fight against HIV in Nigeria.
"Some Nigerians, who may not understand what we are talking about, will just understand it from the surface to mean that Abalaka's HIV vaccine is portent, but that is not the basis of the judgement base on my own understanding.
"Many people are going to use that judgement to their own advantage saying that the drug is working and is curing HIV, where as we know that for now, there is no cure for HIV."
"In order not to make our members vulnerable or gullible to what has happened, we are going to create a massive enlightenment to make them understand what the judgement is all about. We will let them know that the judgment is not about the potency of the vaccine.
"Again, we have not seen anybody who was administered Abalaka's vaccine and came out HIV negative. Therefore, the one that we know and we are promoting is the Anti Retro Viral Drug."
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