A consultant neurologist at the University of Lagos, Prof. Njideka Okubadejo, has debunked insinuation that COVID-19 has negative effects on human fertility. The consultant neurologist assured the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccine, urging people to shun the anti-vaccine narratives.
She gave assurances about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines while delivering speech as the keynote speaker during the 2019/2020 joint graduation ceremony and prize presentation of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) held at hospital premises in Idi-Araba, Lagos. According to Okubadejo, more than 7 billion people worldwide have had, at least, one dose of the vaccine, with about half of those numbers having had both doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and very few side effects reported so far.
“Many of the side effects reported have been minor and have gone away over the course of a few days; so the vaccine is safe. The vaccine is effective because it reduces the likelihood that a person will have COVID-19 infection; that the person will be hospitalised by it; and that the person who died from it. It also helps to protect those who are frail or elderly and at higher risk of dying if they catch the infection.
“COVID-19 vaccines do not contain anything that can cause magnetism; it does not impact on fertility negatively. It will not cause you to have COVID-19 infection and it is beneficial for us all to take up the vaccine so that we can get back to our normal life,” she said.
While charging all the 589 medical graduating students to be advocates for change, the Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Prof. Chris Bode, said medical professionals need to be proactive in disseminating factual health information about COVID-19 vaccines to enlighten Nigerians. The CMD, represented by Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, LUTH, Prof. Wasiu Adeyemo, added that some of the students are well-experienced as they were trained as volunteered workers during the pandemic last year, treating a total of 1,030 COVID-19 patients in the hospital and conducted about over 35,000 tests.
The CMD urged the graduates to continue to be good ambassadors of the institution by improving the health sector in Nigeria. “The most important thing is that the graduating students need more than what they have now to survive in this world; this is just a starting point, they need to improve themselves academically through either online programmes or by exposing themselves to new knowledge locally or internationally. On the benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine, he stated that the rate of transmitting the virus from country to country is alarming and everyone should be vaccinated to restore normalcy.