Executive Director, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau State, Maryam Muhammad, says the institute has uncovered faked anthrax vaccines in Nasawara, Kaduna, Kwara and Oyo States.
She disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during a consultative meeting of veterinary experts as well as federal and state officials and the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases.
The meeting was to strengthen the national strategic response to the current outbreak of anthrax in the country.
Mrs Muhammad said the fake vaccines were sold at major livestock markets in the four states.
She said a test conducted on the vaccines at the institute’s laboratory showed that they contained plain water “and in some cases, water containing sugar.”
“For those who are faking the vaccines and making them available in the market, we’ve already complained to security agencies. So, we’re allowing them to do their work.
“What we’ve noticed is that those who are faking the vaccines actually go to livestock markets. The ones that we’ve been able to retrieve and test, we got them all from livestock markets,” she said.
She advised those in charge of the livestock markets to manage the supply of vaccines therein, noting that even genuine vaccines might become useless if not properly stored and the cold chain not properly maintained.
