By Adeola Ogunlade

In this report, Adeola Ogunlade explores the impact of misinformation on Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts across Southwestern States of Lagos and Osun

On Wednesday, March 2nd 2021, Nigeria received nearly four million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility, a global pooled procurement mechanism that ensures fair and equitable access to vaccines for all 190 participating economies, many of which are developing countries.

The COVAX Facility is a partnership between Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

However, this laudable initiative at tackling the COVID-19 virus has been undermined by a deluge of misinformation about the efficacy of the vaccines as well as the capacity of healthcare facilities in Nigeria to preserve them in the extremely cold temperatures required. Even more worrisome is the peddling of misinformation about COVID-19 by persons supposedly educated and enlightened.

A case in point is Comrade Adenitan, Akinola, a resident of Oshogbo, the capital city of Osun State. According to Akinola, who is a media practitioner, the COVID-19 vaccine is a product of medical imperialism perpetuated by panic and fear with the primary objective of generating wealth for the foreign pharmaceutical companies who manufactured them.

Akinola further justified his anti-vaccine stance by claiming that Nigerians have managed malaria and other diseases through traditional and herbal remedies, citing the case of Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde, a COVID-19 survivor, who publicly declared that he successfully used various local herbs like black seed and garlic to treat the virus.

Like Akinola, Felicia Cheoma, a market woman in Orelope area of Lagos, was emphatic she would not take the COVID-19 vaccine since she was not sick. She even doubted the reality of COVID-19 in Nigeria comparing it to acute malaria, if at all it exists.

“COVID-19 is not real in Nigeria. It is like acute malaria. Since last year when they told us that there is coronavirus, I have not seen anyone down with COVID-19. Assuming it is real, I would see one here in this market or on the street where I live,” She said.

On his part, former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa on SciDev.Net, said “as far as I am concerned, Nigeria is not ready to receive the vaccine and distribute it accordingly. There are no -70 degrees Celsius freezers needed to store the [Pfizer] vaccine. If the government claims to have it in place, they should show it to Nigerians.”

An humanitarian worker, Magnus Onunwa in an article titled Vaccination hesitancy: Will history repeat itself? in Business day in March 14 noted that some people who have been vaccinated in Europe are manifesting some adverse effects already, especially blood clothing.

“With the adverse effect, Norway and Denmark have suspended Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, and the development is giving grave concerns to many on the safety of the vaccines even in Nigeria”.

“Many Nigerians do not know how potent the newly procured AstraZeneca vaccine is. Some are also bothered about the speed with which things have been done from testing to manufacturing, yet the government has not said anything on compensation for people who develop side effects after the vaccination”, Onunwa said.

A front line Health Worker, Dr. Boluwatife Afolabi, who spoke to TechCabal and shared his perspective: “Health workers in general have fears about the vaccine. Most of the fear is motivated by information they have been exposed to online.”

“There is the fear that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has adverse side-effects, and there are also workers who aren’t taking the vaccine because they assume they had a previous infection and are now immune.”

Record from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) stated that out of the nearly four million COVID-19 vaccines donated to Nigeria, 1,945, 273 eligible Nigerians had so far taken the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

However, NPHCDA last Wednesday, noted that only 262, 000 have been given to Nigerians since the flag off of the second phase of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on the 29th of May, 2021.

As Nigeria rolled out its second phase of the vaccination programme in the last two weeks, the response has been low. From the figure available, less than 300, 000 persons have received the second dose.

Since the discovery of the COVID-19 a moment ago before the China’s big Lunar New Year festival in 2020, health experts had announced the outbreak of a novel virus similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARs) that led to the death of nearly 800 persons globally between 2002 and 2003. Today, 3.5 million deaths, thus, preventive measures and vaccines have been proven as the best defense against the virus across the world.

However, anti-vaxxers (those opposed to vaccination) have continued in their campaign to provide false information about the vaccine. These campaigns have been visible across social media even before the advent of the COVAX Vaccines into Nigeria.

On Yandex search engine, our correspondent saw a report flagged on CNBC, in which an American physician-scientist and immunologist, Anthony Stephen Fauci said that new data shows that the COVID-19 vaccines currently on the market may not be as effective in guarding against new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus, giving “all the more reason” to vaccinate people faster.

Fauci noted that a handful of new strains of the coronavirus have emerged overseas that have given scientists some cause for concern. Some variants that have been identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil appear to be more transmissible than previous strains but not necessarily more deadly.

Fauci, who is White House Health Advisor, noted that some early findings that were published in the preprint server bioRxiv, which is yet to be peer reviewed, indicate that the variant identified in South Africa, known as 501Y.V2, can evade the antibodies provided by some coronavirus treatments and may reduce the efficacy of the current line of available vaccines.

Using keywords such as of misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines, this Correspondent used Hoaxy® to visualise the spread of the information on Twitter, as shown below:

However, in a swift response, the World Health Organization’s Immunization Director, Kate O’Brien, said on the 22nd, January, that it’s too early to have clear information on whether the emerging variants will have an impact on any of the current vaccines.

O’Brien added that not every variant will act the same way, and the answer will depend on the type of mutation and the vaccines.

“This is really evolving information and there are a number of ways evaluations can be done to understand whether or not any … of the vaccines are less effective against the variants”, O’ Brien said

How misinformation impacts government efforts

Director General of the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said the recommendation for Emergency Use Authorization of the use of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine was based on rigorous scientific considerations which include Vaccine quality, Vaccine safety and efficacy and Pharmacovigilance of COVID-19 Vaccines.

She said that from the Phases 2/3 conducted, the COVISHIELD (vaccine) was found safe and well-tolerated in adults above 18 years of age. The incidence of solicited, unsolicited adverse event (AEs) and Serious Adverse event (SAEs) was comparable in the study control groups. No causally related SAE was caused by the study vaccine.

“Safety of the vaccine is premium to NAFDAC and a lot of efforts are being put into this regulatory function. The Agency initiated multi-stakeholder collaboration with National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), UNICEF, GAVI, WHO and Ministry of Health.”

She added “the focus is to use a holistic approach for the effective immunization or delivery of the vaccines and monitor any Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI). The multi-stakeholder technical working groups have been meeting to address different issues, from access to distribution to traceability (track and trace) of the vaccines, to monitoring of adverse events following immunization.”

Other experts’ view

A Professor of Virology and Chairman Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19, Professor Oyewale Tomori said that the globally approved COVID-19 vaccines were build up on the research done on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARs2) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome vaccine which was done in 2003 and administered to many people. It was abandoned when SARC2 was not life threatening.

He noted that however when coronavirus emerged, scientists build their research on the SARs 2 vaccines and that helped in shortening the time frame for the invention of COVID-19 vaccine, added that it is imperative to note that the time frame of the vaccine is not less than one year of the emergence of coronavirus but is a build up on the knowledge gathered when SARs 2 vaccine was invented.

He said that the vaccine is still the only potent safety net against the coronavirus. We have seen in some countries, especially the United Kingdom that the more they take the vaccine, the less number of persons going down with the virus. He stressed that the use of herb or other traditional medicines have not be proven scientifically as veritable in the fight against COVID-19

On the availability of an adequate storage facility for the vaccines, Tomori said that the current oxford vaccine in Nigeria can be stored with ordinary fridge temperature. “I will be worried with Pfizer vaccine which has to be stored minus 2 degree. We don’t have the capacity here in Nigeria. In all the Primary Health Centres, they have fridges and supported by Solar panels to keep the current vaccines in Nigeria in the right temperature.

On the rumour that many Nigerians have developed HERD immunity against the virus, he said that there is no proof that Nigerians have developed herd immunity against COVID-19.

He said that the COVID-19 has been with us for more than one year. How many people have herd immunity? Most times when tests are carried out among 100 Nigerians, only 25% have herd immunity, living 75% vulnerable to the virus. They are only speculations; there is no proof or facts that confirm it.

Tomori debunked another common myth about COVID-19. Asked on the effect of weather on COVID-19 Transmission and Mortality in Nigeria, Prof Tomori said that there is currently no conclusive evidence that either weather (short term variations in meteorological conditions) or climate (long-term averages) have a strong influence on transmission.

According to him, there are parts of Europe that are hotter than Nigeria. The only advantage we have is that people are moving around and our markets are opened. Though, we must emphasis that people should wear their face mask and ensure social distances. The challenged faced in some western countries is because of their cold weather condition makes people congregate indoors. People are often close to each other and that makes the transmission of the virus widespread.

Also speaking to The Nation, a public health pharmacist and the Special Adviser to the Osun state Governor on Public Health, Siji Olamiju, said that the vaccine remains potent but it does not rule out the need to ensure the safety protocols put in place by the government. He noted that vaccine does not mean that someone cannot be infected with coronavirus but the advantage is that the vaccine will prevent someone from dyeing from the virus.

Though, he added that someone who have been vaccinated can be infected and can also infect others with the virus and that calls for caution and watchfulness. Many vulnerable persons who have not be vaccinated are still at risk of been infected with the virus. The rate at which people come down with catarrh, cough and respiratory tract infections have actually reduced

Asked about the spike in the infection rate in January 2021, he said that many Nigerians came back to Nigeria from Christmas celebrations abroad and that calls for concerns among health workers. The approach then was to improve on our testing programme and we discovered a lot of positive people who were isolated and treated. The vaccine still remains potent against the virus.

• This publication was produced as part of IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme, administered in partnership with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), and Africa Uncensored. For more information on ARN, please visit the ARN site.