There is a growing market for COVID-19 vaccines sale in many countries across the globe. Since the first announcement of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan City, China on 31 December 2019 by the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been various misconceptions and conspiracy theories.
Even international health organizations at the time had thought the reports from Wuhan were cases of pneumonia. These misconceptions and theories have continued to characterize COVID-19 to date with many critics still of the opinion that the pandemic is propaganda designed for selfish financial gains.
The scandal of vaccine sales, especially in countries where there are shortages and the increasing reports of fake vaccine certificates and passes have appeared on several headlines and continue to attract attention.
We assembled a team of investigative journalists to go underground and look into various healthcare facilities and vaccination centers in Nigeria posing as foreigners in need of COVID-19 vaccines.
We claimed that we needed the shots urgently to enable us to pass immigration at the international airport to return back to the United States. Our findings were both shocking and expository as there are many questions surrounding COVID-19 that remain unanswered.
In August this year, Nigeria received additional doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines after millions of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine had been shipped earlier, directly from the COVAX facility in partnership with WHO, UNICEF, CEPI, and Gavi.
According to reports from reputable sources, the Nigerian government is secretly ditching the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine which was manufactured in India, in favour of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The reports claim that the official reason behind this decision is due to the fact that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a one-shot vaccine, as against the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine which requires multiple doses.
From our investigations, it is obvious that mismanaged communication by the Nigerian government (and many governments across the globe – to be fair) has made the citizens believe that the Johnson & Johnson vaccines are more effective and without side effects like the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.
The misconception surrounding the authenticity of the vaccines has further propelled the shameful acts of medical officers who now engage in the ‘sale’ of COVID-19 vaccines in many countries around the world.
Our visit to a federal government vaccination facility in a popular area of Lagos State, Nigeria proved to be an eye-opener. Even from the entrance, the personnel at the car parks were already soliciting us to find out if we wanted the ‘real one without side effect’ – referring to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or surprisingly, if we wanted a vaccine certificate issues to us without taking the vaccine.
We acted interested and informed them that we would like to have the passes without taking the shots, the young man – who claimed to be an off-duty doctor charged us a fee in the range of 300 USD. He claimed that this was the option politicians and ‘big-men’ preferred due to the side effects experienced by many people.
“So, we can get the vaccination certificates without taking the vaccine,” I asked. He responded in the affirmative but said I could get the ‘newly imported vaccines from America’ for about 200 USD.
“But vaccines are free, why do we need to pay you when I can go inside and get a shot for free”, I further inquired. “There are not enough vaccines, so you will be placed on a waiting list. I only want to assist because I can see you are in haste and need it to travel.”
A visit to two other facilities revealed that the case is similar, but perhaps the most surprising revelation of our fact-finding mission was the fact that millions of Nigerians are bent on not taking the COVID-19 vaccine and would rather pay an arm-and-a-leg to get a fake vaccination certificate.
Top medical and government officials – who collaborate in falsifying the vaccination reports and documents, are the real culprits in the vaccination scandal. The health workers in the vaccination centers are just pawns in a larger scheme. As you would expect, the misinformed masses are the victims – and continue to lose from both ways – sadly so.