Court pronouncement on Abalaka’s HIV Vaccine misleading – NEPWHAN

ABUJA: Following what it described as the
‘misleading’ court pronouncement in regards to
the Dr. Jeremiah Abalaka’s HIV vaccine, the
Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS
(NEPWHAN) has called on Attorney General of
Federation and Minister of Justice and other co-
defendants in the suite to appeal the judgment and
to stay action on the execution of the
pronouncement.
The group also called on the Nigerian Institute of
Medical Research (NIMR) and the Nigerian Institute
of Pharmaceutical Research and Development
(NIPRD) in collaboration with the National Agency
for Food and Drug Administration and Control
(NAFDAC) to make urgent statement in regards of
the court pronouncement.
The National Secretary of the NEPWHAN, Victor
Omoseyi, stated this at a media briefing in Abuja,
yesterday.
The group however, expressed concern over the
inability of the president to sign the anti-HIV/AIDS
Discrimination Bill into law, urging him to do so
before the February elections.
NEPWHAN therefore called on President Goodluck
Jonathan, “to, as a matter of urgency, to ensure
continued access to uninterrupted HIV care and
treatment for the over 600,000 adults and children
which he promised in the President’s
Comprehensive Response Plan for HIV/AIDS
(PCRP), which was launched in July 2013. This
should not be a failed promise on the part of our
government.”
While advising its members, NEPWHAN said: “We
call on all persons living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
to avoid or stop the use of any HIV vaccine or
drugs that have not gone through clinical trials or
substantiated by any scientific evidence, including
the HIV vaccine claimed to have been discovered
by Dr Abalaka.
Speaking, the National Coordinator of NEPWHAN,
Edward Ogenyi, reiterated that the call for people
living with HIV/AIDS to scare away from the
Abalaka’s vaccine to protect its members from
falling into the hands of dubious people.