Shady Side of Yellow Fever Vaccines Exposed in Nigeria

Premium Times' Ebuka Onyeji investigates why the scarcity of yellow fever vaccines occurred in the areas where they were most needed in Nigeria and how business people cashed in on the situation, neglecting health and ethical concerns. Two months of the investigation confirmed that private vaccine dealers connived with government health officials to sell the jabs to desperate citizens. Yellow cards are issued after immunisation at a government hospital and are validated with a signature and stamp from the port health authority. But desperate travellers are using fake Yellow cards obtained from corrupt airport officials to bypass the travel requirement, thereby increasing the risk of the epidemic-prone disease spreading to other countries. The investigation also detailed how superstition leading to vaccine resistance, poor vaccine storage, and irregular power supply in primary health centres contributed to yellow fever, which is vaccine-preventable, remaining endemic in Nigeria. The yellow fever vaccination was introduced in Nigeria in 2004 as one of the vaccines expected to be given free to children during routine immunisation. In spite of this, the country is still witnessing recurrent outbreaks of the disease. Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease, transmitted by infected mosquitoes.