In a landmark judgement, 16 years after the federal government officially banned the use of HIV vaccines discovered by Dr Jeremiah Abalaka, a Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has declared the ban illegal and inconsequential.
In a 32 page judgement delivered by Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, the court held that given the dreaded nature of HIV/AIDS, it is incumbent on government to encourage health experts with scientific claims to the discovery of vaccines or cure, as opposed to discouraging them.
The court argued that the National Agency for Food and Drug Control Administration (NAFDAC) as the 3rd defendant, though vested with the responsibility of registering drugs and vaccines and has the powers to ban such, lacked the facility to test Abalaka’s HIV vaccine, and as such failed to provide a convincing order to warrant the ban of the said vaccine.
It was observed that the support recently given to health experts by the federal government in the fight against Ebola ought to follow suit with HIV/AIDS considering the impact the virus has on its patients.
Abalaka alongside his hospital, Medicrest Specialist Hospital Limited, Gwagwalada had dragged the Federal Government to court seeking a declaration that the July 20, 2000 ban or suspension of the use of HIV vaccine he discovered was illegal, null and void because it violates his Patent No. RP13567 dated July 22 1999.
The President, Attorney-General of the Federation and National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control were defendants in the case.
Abalaka told the court that he took a blood sample from an infected person, treated it and re-inject it into the person.
The surgeon had also informed the court that he has treated infected persons with their consent and quite a few have reverted to negative.
He said even though he had informed the agencies in the Ministry of Health of his major breakthrough and sought their collaboration, they vehemently opposed his discovery with concrete verification.‬
