The Federal Government has raised alarm about fake COVID-19 vaccines in circulation in Nigeria.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, gave the warning on Monday while speaking at the weekly briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.

The Minister also revealed that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, is currently working towards initiatives to test and authorize more vaccines for use in Nigeria.

He said: “Due to warnings by international police organisations of the high rate of fake COVID-19 vaccines said to be in circulation, and reports of risks of adverse events reported after vaccination, Nigeria will not accept vaccines from private and unverified sources.

“In addition to scaling up vaccination, we scaled up surveillance at our points of entry to reduce the risk of importation of coronavirus variants said to be more contagious and virulent”.

These variants are suspected to be behind the surging COVID-19 cases in Asia and the Americas.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on Monday night, confirmed 37 fresh cases of COVID-19 in six states.

This brings the total number of recorded cases in the country to 164,756, with 2,062 fatalities, while about 154,963 have been successfully treated and discharged.