The Nigerian government is butting heads with Dr. Jeremiah Abalaka over Abalaka's AIDS vaccine, with the government taking the latest hit. Abalaka claims to have successfully produced a vaccine that can reduce or cure HIV. The vaccine has been administered to infected people, with adverse results, the government claims. According to a report in Nigeria's Post Express newspaper ("Nigeria: Why We Stopped Use of the Vaccines-Atiku", Post Express (Lagos) July 25, 2000, by Obiorah Ifo), the country's vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said the government has stepped in to stop Abalaka from administering the vaccine "because it has killed more people than it has cured". The newspaper quoted him saying that it was only in Nigeria that "somebody can go and manufacture vaccine without permission and authorization of the drug administration of the country before he can begin to administer it on Nigerians". Then on July 31, 2000, the Federal Court of Appeal backed Abalaka and ordered that the government stop investigating the vaccine. "The court, presided over by Justice Muntaka Coomassie, also granted an interim order restraining the defendant from taking any action on Dr. Abalaka pending the hearing of the motion on notice", said an article in the Vanguard Daily newspaper ("Court halts federal government over Abalaka's HIV vaccine", Vanguard Daily (Lagos) July 31, 2000, by Bukola Ojeme). The government's primary complaint is that Abalaka reportedly would not back his claims for the vaccine with proper scientific data. A team of medical experts found "the vaccine could not pass through any acceptable criteria", the Post Express report said, and so the government had ordered that use of the vaccine cease. According to Abubakar, the vaccine "has caused more havoc, it has killed people, and it will kill more. That is when the government decided to intervene.
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