By Ebele Orakpo

It’s no longer news that the novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, SARS CoV 2, also known as the coronavirus, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, hit the world like a bolt out of the blues, bringing to a screeching halt, global economies as nations locked down to stop the spread of the virus in early 2020.

But with controversies springing up at every turn around the origin or source of COVID-19, experts in science, medicine and law, answer some critical questions on the pandemic, vaccination hesitancy, vaccine mandate, the legal implications, treatment options and the best way forward.

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SAMPLERS:

Professor Cyril Otoikhian, professor of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Dept of Biological Sciences, Novena University, Ogume, Delta State: ‘Vaccine is a drug and no drug is compulsory for any human being.

Prof. Olatunde Farombi, Director, Drug Metabolism and Toxicology Research Laboratories, University of Ibadan: “We have indigenous food substances and natural products available to people that can be taken regularly as prophylaxis or as preventive measures against COVID-19 and other viral illnesses.”

Dr Madewa Adebajo, Medical Director, Randle General Hospital and Maternal Child Centre, Surulere, Lagos: “Vaccines are not alien to us; what is alien is the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Prof.  Olugbenga Ogunmoyela, professor of Food Science: “My personal view based on simple logic is this: If you want to wipe out the whole world, you don’t need a vaccine, there are other ways.”

Dr Omar Hamada, frontline Emergency Room doctor, former US Special Forces flight surgeon, and Ob/Gyn doctor: “The Omicron variant is more infectious, more transmissible, but with much less severity. So this could potentially be the end of the coronavirus pandemic because we would get herd immunity.”

Vaccine controversies/hesitancy: Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been various remarks on the virus, its origin, different cures and availability of effective vaccines.

Many ‘experts’ have spoken but left the populace more confused with their explanations and claims, thus arousing suspicion. And so when the vaccines were rolled out many people refused to take the jab because, according to them, the rollout was rather too fast, without enough time to thoroughly test the vaccine on lab animals before using it on humans.

Some people are hesitant on religious or health grounds, some on doctor’s advice or just fear, because they do not know the long-term effect of the vaccine.

Again, because what Mrs Melinda Gates had predicted about seeing dead bodies littering the streets of Africa due to the pandemic did not happen, many felt there is no COVID-19 in Africa.

But while NAFDAC has repeatedly assured Nigerians that the vaccine is safe, yet people are hesitant as, according to the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, only 2.9 per cent of eligible Nigerians were fully vaccinated as at November 15, 2021.

Fear fuels vaccine hesitancy: Ogunmoyela, said: “Some believe that if you take the vaccine, your natural immunity will be destroyed, but that is not true. Scientists say that the vaccine actually stimulates your natural immunity. The point is that the vaccine can only augment your immune system and make it stronger, so I think it’s just the way the whole thing started. Some said it’s a way to reduce the population and fertility.

“These things cause hesitancy. My view, based on simple logic is this: If you want to wipe out the whole world, you don’t need a vaccine, there are other ways.

For Hamada, many people are hesitant because of the attitude of some officials in the public health sector. “Some people in the public health community want to keep us locked down and afraid.

“There comes a point at which we’ve got to get back to living. We all understand that there are certain risks.

“A risk in not taking the vaccine, maybe a risk in taking it; but the bigger risk is that we curl up in a fetal position, hide under our beds and stop living. When it first started, we didn’t know much, there was a lot of fear, justifiably.

“But as we gained experience and as people got immunised and developed other medications that could treat it or discovered other medicines like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine (I know there’s a lot of controversy about that), then we began to see that we can actually survive this. In the US, for example, the fatality rate is about one per cent, not greater than that.

“This is the first time in modern history where physicians have had their hands tied and are told we cannot use certain medications off label to treat clinical conditions. We do it all the time – in obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, in emergency medicine. There are many medications we use off label.

“This is the first time we’re not only being told we can’t, we’re being threatened. We’re being fired. We’re being de-licenced. So it doesn’t make any sense.

A lot of Americans say: “Who do I listen to? Unfortunately, there is so much variance in information. There seems to be a dividing line based on political leaning which is interesting because it should just be pure science.

“This is the science, this is what happens, and these are the decisions we make, but it seems to be swayed based on which way we lean politically. Makes us think that maybe there is some sort of agenda. Maybe there is something else to this rather than just a straight pandemic.”

Farombi: “First, the development of different types of vaccines to fight this disease is welcome and laudable. These vaccines have been developed from rigorous science and different trials before rolling them out. However, several conspiracy theories have affected the psychology of the people and, hence, the hesitancy.

“For me, the vaccines are good, effective and have reduced hospitalisation and development of the disease. However, the emergence of various mutant strains of the virus has reduced the efficacy of the vaccines and are posing serious challenges to curbing the pandemic. Following continuous mutation of the original coronavirus, we may face serious problems in fighting the disease.”

Adebajo: “Vaccines are not new; children still take the polio vaccine and others. What is alien is the COVID-19 pandemic and because of the death toll in some countries, people began to wonder whether there is hope; so vaccines were developed within a short period of time. There is enough evidence to show that the vaccinated have a higher survival rate. They are not saying that you will no longer be infected but if you are infected, your body will be able to withstand it since you are already vaccinated.”

Vaccine mandate: Many COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant people said they are not anti-vaccine, but wonder why people are being forced and, in some cases, paid or threatened to take the vaccine; even pregnant women and COVID-19 survivors who must have developed anti-bodies against the virus. Some of the respondents believe that government has a right to mandate the vaccine as long as it is for the greater good while others vehemently disagree.

Ogunmoyela said: “If your argument is that you have built up enough antibodies and won’t be infected, that is not a sufficient argument. When the vaccinated get infected with COVID-19, it’s very mild but very dangerous for those who have underlying conditions like diabetes and hypertension.

“In Nigeria, where stress level is high, why would somebody with underlying condition say he doesn’t need the vaccine? What about the protection it offers and the immunity it’s supposed to help you build? Those are the arguments that changed my mind in favour of vaccination. I understand the vaccine is not a live virus; it’s just that everyone has become an ‘expert’, we don’t want to listen to experts anymore.”

Adebajo: “Unfortunately, some wealthy people died of COVID-19; it wasn’t as if they could not afford treatment; so it’s beginning to sink. Now, some people are saying if you don’t have the vaccine passport, you won’t have access to some public services and spaces. It’s a public concern; you can’t say because it’s your right not to get vaccinated, you now expose other people, so government has the right to give one or two conditions. If you choose not to get vaccinated, you will be restricted from certain places.”

As far as Otoikhian is concerned, “mandates to take vaccines are coming from compromised leaders who in one way or the other, have been promised economic benefits. Vaccines are drugs; since when has the use of drugs become mandatory? As a scientist, I know that the use of drugs remains the singular choice of the individual, so the enforcement by some governments across the world is illegal and must be resisted by all sensible and knowledgeable individuals.

“When you compel humans to take unclassified and not scientifically isolated virus nor identified causative agent by the producers and marketers, then something is wrong. All information given so far by the WHO and the big marketers, with Bill Gates Foundation at the centre, are not scientific and have no place in rule of handling health issues.”Since they say COVID-19 is a living thing and can mutate, I have asked them to tell me how many chromosomes the cell has that makes it a living thing. Till date, I am still waiting. Recently, they have come to agree that it is not a living thing after a so-called scientist from a Nigerian university told me that COVID-19 virus is a living thing. My question to such scientists is: What part do they belong to?

“I still stand as a professor of genetics for them to fault me, even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the US President. Let him come to a roundtable conference to face me and tell me that he doesn’t know what American scientists led by himself, produced in Wuhan laboratory that is classified as COVID-19 virus. Vaccine mandate is the only way to achieve their goal and force people to accept what they are not supposed to accept. Vaccine is a drug and no drug is compulsory for any human being.

“Over a year ago, I mentioned that there was nothing to worry about because virus marketing has been with us; the only time humans should get worried is when the vaccine comes. Those who have the knowledge of vaccine and viruses have said no to vaccination. When you say pandemic, it sounds funny; who has classified the virus that caused the pandemic and from whom has it been isolated?

“Prof. Karen Wetterhahn, a professor of Chemistry who died in 1997, had exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 when she accidentally inhaled some particles of the virus she was producing. Fauci and Co should tell us the heavy metal she mistakenly inhaled. I told the world that the virus is man-made and, hence, cannot mutate. The virus producers and marketers are lying to us.

“The body has God-given inbuilt immune system and they know how to bypass it when they are set to get the virus they produced to the people.”

Omicron variant of COVID-19 virus

Speaking on the Omicron variant in an interview with Gov. Mike Huckabee on the Mike Huckabee Show,  Hamada noted that according to the WHO, as at December 4, 2021, not a single person in the world has died from the Omicron variant, so he wondered why people are afraid.

“There is so much fear being generated. If we look at the South African experience and listen to what the doctors are saying, this seems to be a variant of concern, VOC, that quickly replaced Delta within two weeks or so in South Africa. What we’re seeing is that it is more infectious, more transmissible, but with much less severity.

“So this could potentially be the end of the coronavirus pandemic because we would get herd immunity. If it’s so transmissible and people get infected but with nothing more than a mild cold for most people, then people could develop natural immunity and then it’s over.”

COVID-19 vaccine Vs COVID-19 survivors

When asked why government is mandating vaccination for everyone, even those who have had COVID-19 and have natural antibodies?

Hamada said: “That’s one of the things that actually makes me think there’s something more to this than just straight science. In the virus, there are 16 non-structural proteins that are coded by the genome, and there are only four structural proteins and those are S protein, Membrane protein, Envelope protein and Nucleocapsid protein where the RNA is stored. So the vaccines are only made against the S protein, but all those other antigenic indicators of the virus are not addressed by the vaccine.

“Natural immunity takes them all. So, natural immunity is going to build a more robust, more effective and a wider immunity against coronavirus and enable us to actually interact more against the variants.”

Hamada’s submission agrees with a study by medrxiv.org which compared SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity. They concluded that natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalisation caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity. Weighing in on the matter, Ogunmoyela said: “The truth is this: If you’ve tested positive to COVID-19, then you need to be vaccinated 30 to 35 days after infection. The vaccine helps you to build up your natural immunity.”

Adebajo said: “Ideally, if you’ve been exposed to a disease, you don’t need a vaccine in most cases. There are some vaccines that will confer life-long immunity; for some, you will require a booster after two to 10 years.

“Sometimes when people are exposed to a disease and recover, it is assumed that they have immunity but the percentage needs to be assessed. Example, I have been exposed to malaria and recovered; which means I am supposed to be immune against malaria; but if you look at the antibodies I have developed against malaria, it may be just 45 per cent; it won’t be effective, so if I am exposed to the disease again, I’m likely to come down with malaria. Nobody measures the antibody level of people who have been exposed to COVID-19.”

However, US Congressman, Thomas Massie, in an interview, had advised people who want to get the COVID-19 vaccine to first get an antibody test. He said: “I had an antibody test 18 months ago that came back positive with high levels of antibodies and so I’ve been interested personally as to whether the vaccine improves on that immunity and how durable and long-lasting that immunity is.”

Otoikhian calls it simple advertisement. “Asking the unvaccinated to vaccinate is like simple advert for a product. They want to achieve a set agenda best known to them. The vaccine does not protect you as they have recently admitted. That is the scientific truth! So if it cannot protect you, why taking it and forcing people to take it?

“It is scientifically baseless and a calculated attempt by the virus marketers to persuade people to take the vaccine. For more than a year now, I have asked the Minister of Health to bring a sample of the vaccine let us analyse the active ingredients. I am still waiting. So I still maintain that asking everyone to take the vaccine is pure marketing strategy to achieve the aims of declaring the pandemic in the first place.”

Spreading the virus by the vaccinatedStudies have shown that indeed, the vaccinated can still actively spread the virus without knowing it as they may be asymptomatic. But Otoikhian said: “As a scientist, yes, the vaccinated can still spread the virus because they are the ones that have the virus. But let me say here that from all my analyses, there is nobody who is vaccinated against any virus made by man that can spread it considering the mechanism of infection of non-living organisms or disease-causing agents like COVID-19 virus.

“The process through which vaccine is administered is intravenous, so it jumps the skin defence or body immune defence and have access to the bloodstream. So, they are not transferable because immediately they enter the body, they get attached to cells, they stay in the cells and disintegrate into millions of smaller particles.”

Other options/alternatives: Experts agree that most viral illnesses do not need special medication, the immune system fights off viral diseases, hence the need to build immunity.

If people are rejecting the vaccine due to one reason or the other, they should be provided with alternatives.

Farombi said that good nutrition and regular consumption of certain food substances and plant-based agents are capable of helping people maintain good health and robust immunity to challenge any invading virus.

He said: “Despite the fact that the vaccines are effective and working well, I believe there are other options that can be adopted by people to boost their immunity and help them cope with the disease. We have indigenous food substances and natural products available to people that have been shown experimentally to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

“They also serve as immunomodulators. They can be taken regularly as prophylaxis or as preventive measures against COVID-19 and other viral illnesses. These agents have been part of our diet and practices since ages to manage, prevent and fight various diseases. These naturally occurring agents are still useful and valuable in the fight against COVID-19.

Bitter Kola: This has been well investigated and active compounds characterised from it to show antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities. It has been proved to act as anti-influenza (flu) agent experimentally.

Zinc: This is a mineral and very useful in the body to prevent viral replication and acts as immune booster. Happily, some of the agents discussed naturally contain zinc apart from the fact that it can be obtained as over-the-counter supplement.

Onions: This is another food agent available to people. Onions contain Quercetin which is a zinc ionophore. This compound in onions allows zinc to penetrate the cell walls to interfere with the replication of the coronavirus thus reducing the damage it can cause to the body system.

Ginger: This is well investigated to be a very potent anti-inflammatory agent on account of active principles like 6-Gingerol and Shogaol. Again, ginger contains a lot of zinc. Regular intake of ginger will be useful as anti-inflammatory agent and also help to boost immunity.

Turmeric: This is common and the main active agent in it is called Curcumin with well-proven anti-inflammatory property in several models.

Black pepper: This is commonly available and studies have shown that it contains an agent called piperine which increases the absorption of turmeric and curcumin by as much as 2,000 per cent, according to research.

Garlic: Garlic has been around for ages and known to have very strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It also serves as blood thinner or anticoagulant.

Citrus fruits: They contain copious amount of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is also known as antiviral vitamin. Vitamin C is very useful in managing COVID-19. Citrus fruits like lime, lemon and oranges will prove useful.

Bitter leaf: The anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic (fever-lowering), anti-nociceptic (pain-reducing); antibacterial and immune-boosting capacity of bitter leaf have been extensively investigated with proven efficacy in several models. Above all, we must also continue to keep to non-pharmaceutical procedures of hand-washing, wearing of face masks, keeping social distance and avoiding crowded places as much as possible to stay safe to overcome this dreaded disease.  

Looking inwards

The respondents believe that Nigerians must look inwards to solve their problems. They cannot always look to the developed countries for solutions.

“We should work at our own data in Nigeria. We should build our own biological labs and ensure that they are well funded. Luckily, we have not had as many deaths as other countries and we have a virology laboratory now in Mainland Hospital, though one is not enough, we need a lot more and we need to have data at our hospitals,” said Adebajo.

“The government should leverage the capability of local researchers, support and invest heavily on them to develop some homegrown solutions from these medicinal plants as treatment and management options for this disease. The country stands to gain more by exporting the outcome of this to the entire world. As a scientist, I am aware that oxidative stress, hyper inflammation and compromised immune system are very common pathways by which coronavirus attacks the body system and people can  then come down with COVID-19. Government  should place a robust genomic surveillance in place to detect and manage the mutant strains emerging from the original coronavirus,” said Farombi.

Booster shots: While the Nigerian government is still trying to get Nigerians to take their first shot, some countries are already taking booster shots.

On whether people would need a booster shot for every new variant, Adebajo said: “The human body is capable of developing antibodies, whatever agent that’s coming, just that it won’t be fair for the body to be looking at boosters for different variants. Only God knows how many variants we are going to have. No need to panic.”

Said Otoikhian: “Let me say it again, all vaccine variants only classify the different viral active ingredients used to produce the classified vaccine, simple science! In short, all they are giving out is different vaccines with different active ingredients. They can use funny concepts to deceive people but I am a scientist and I stand never to be deceived. My question is: What is the lifespan of the virus called COVID-19 hence the half-life estimate which are parameters to arrive at existence of a variant?”

Now that the ‘conspiracy theories’ like vaccine mandate, vaccine passport and booster shots have become reality and further heightened hesitancy, the respondents proffered some solutions. For Adebajo, advocacy is it!

“Basically, what needs to be done is advocacy. We need to continue to educate the people.” Ogunmoyela agrees with Adebajo, saying that government needs to do a little bit more; they need to partner with consumer organisations that will help to increase sensitisation.

“When many of the unvaccinated have COVID-19, especially those with underlying conditions, they don’t survive. I heard that if you are unvaccinated, the risk of death is 11 times higher and that unvaccinated people are more likely to be hospitalised when they have COVID-19 but if you are vaccinated, you will still feel the effect but it will be much milder because the vaccine helps to build your immunity.

“These are the kinds of information that people need now to reduce the hesitancy. You will be shocked that even educated people are hesitant. It’s not just about literacy, even among the elite, people are hesitant. Some people don’t believe there’s anything like COVID-19. One thing that’s very clear is that enlightenment in Nigeria is low. We don’t spend enough resources to actually enlighten the consumer.

“We’ve been going to television; so tell me how we have managed to reach the grassroots? That is why, beyond Lagos and a few cities, most people in the states that are not so badly hit, don’t believe there is COVID-19.”

Farombi said: “At present, the percentage of the population that has been vaccinated is very low compared with the unvaccinated who are willing to take the vaccine despite hesitancy. Therefore, more time should be given to allow the vaccines to be made available by government in some states where certain rules have been instituted to stop people who have not been vaccinated from having access to some privileges.” Said Otoikhian: “My view from day one is simple!

“The vaccine manufacturers should tell the people what they want them to consume called vaccine; I mean the chemical component called active ingredient. Two, they should obey every human right by allowing the individual to decide whether or not to take it, having been told the truth about the active ingredient. I have said it times without number that government should come out publicly with the vaccine, let us test to see the active ingredients.  

Legal angle

When the Secretary to the Government of the Federation/Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha announced that all civil servants in Nigeria shall, with effect from December 1, 2021 show proof of vaccination or present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours to gain access to their various offices within Nigeria and Missions abroad, many thought it was a joke but on December 1, 2021, some people were actually locked out of their offices in Abuja. The Nigeria Labour Congress vowed to fight against such mandate.

Also, the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, Dr Monday Ubani, said he will drag the Federal Government to court if it goes ahead to enforce the directive.

He has done as promised. He described the directive as insensitive, saying that compulsory vaccination violates the existing labour terms and the fundamental rights of the civil servants to their privacy, life, movement, religious belief, faith and liberty.

“When these civil servants were employed, compulsory vaccination and its attendant punishment for non-compliance were not part of their terms of contract. This new policy is a rude interruption to cordial labour relationship and is against international best labour practices,” Ubani had said, adding: “As the government has failed to concretely convince the citizens on the issue of health, safety and bodily harm of this vaccination, they are advised to desist from pursuing their present policy that is in collision course with the bodily integrity of the citizens.”

Vanguard News Nigeria