{"id":5984,"date":"2021-01-26T15:21:11","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T15:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/?p=5984"},"modified":"2025-11-22T12:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:08:22","slug":"vaccine-its-a-profit-making-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/vaccine-its-a-profit-making-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s a profit-making venture”: Past experiences lead some Nigerians to question Covid-19 vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

By Caleb Okereke<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Lagos, Nigeria \u2013 Nigeria expects its first 100,000 doses<\/a> of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in February, according to Dr. Faisal Shuaib, head of the country\u2019s National Primary Health Care Development Agency.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Yet one of the last times Pfizer embarked on a mass administration of its drugs in Nigeria, it killed 11 children with an experimental treatment administered without parental consent. That experience is one reason for the skepticism some Nigerians have of the coronavirus vaccines the country is looking to procure.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Paul Adebayo last took a vaccine as a child more than a decade ago. Now, the twenty-four-year-old teacher living in Lagos, Nigeria says he will not take a coronavirus vaccine when the country receives one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI feel these [vaccines] have not been proven yet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe efficiency has not been proven.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nigeria has officially reported over<\/a> 122,000 Covid-19 cases and recorded 1,507 deaths, though these figures are believed to be much higher as testing is not as widespread.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A variant strain <\/a>of the virus was recently discovered and in Lagos, and both overall cases and the death rate have shot up.

\u201cGod has been keeping us, there\u2019s no how he\u2019d abandon us at the 11th hour,\u201d Adebayo said in response to the possibility of contracting the virus if he doesn\u2019t take the vaccine.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Adebayo is not the only one reluctant to get vaccinated. Seyi*, a popular filmmaker in Lagos, Nigeria shares Adebayo\u2019s sentiments and believes the vaccines are a profit making venture that haven\u2019t been properly tested.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cHow many people has it been tested on to know if it works?\u201d Seyi said. \u201cThere\u2019s just a vibe around it. It looks like it\u2019s a profit making venture and everyone is trying to make money in the end,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Broadcast messages asking people not to take the vaccine have flooded the internet in recent weeks, as have messages implying the vaccine is a tool of the anti-Christ, and that Bill and Melinda gates are in fact the antichrist.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nigeria\u2019s vaccine hesitancy and the disinformation around it has its roots in the recent past. In 1996, Kano, a state in northern Nigeria experienced a meningitis outbreak, at the time Africa\u2019s worst.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Without proper consent from parents, Pfizer (one of the companies with a coronavirus vaccine) administered an experimental drug<\/a> \u201cTrovan\u201d to 100 children, while another 100 children received \u201cceftriaxone.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Five children died from Trovan and six from Ceftriaxone. Many others were left with brain damage, slurred speech, or paralysis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 2003, leaders in northern Nigeria admonished parents<\/a> to not allow their children be immunized against polio because the vaccine could be contaminated with anti-fertility and cancerous agents. This counsel is similar to the framing that has years later shrouded the coronavirus vaccine in Nigeria.

\u201cI think people’s reluctance is based on [the fact] that the vaccine was developed too quickly and might be unsafe,\u201d Ihekweazu says adding that there is equally a lot of distrust for the government in Nigeria.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThere needs to be systematic communication with Nigerians, at the grassroot [and] at the community level, using trusted spokespeople to communicate the safety of the vaccine,\u201d she says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Besides trust, there is a more immediate problem for Nigeria: actually getting a hold of coronavirus vaccine doses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The 100,000 Pfizer doses were originally scheduled to arrive in January, but are now expected in February. Dr. Shuaib said in an interview with Bloomberg that the vaccines will be acquired through COVAX, an initiative working to acquire equitable distribution and backed by the World Health Organisation and other private partners.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This first consignment, Dr. Shuaib says, is meant to serve Nigeria\u2019s health workers at the frontline and senior political officers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In January, Nigeria\u2019s health minister also announced that the country will receive 10 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine <\/a>in March, even though it was not specified which vaccine is expected and who will be financing it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Vivianne Ihekweazu who is the Director of Nigeria Health Watch, an organization looking to influence health policy in Nigeria through adovocacy and communication, says that the country\u2019s response to the vaccines like most countries had to be reactionary, both in the selection and deploying of vaccines.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cHistorically, whenever there’s been an outbreak, it’s taken over 10 years to develop a vaccine,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat the government in Nigeria like many other governments is having to do is look to see the distribution networks that they’re going to use to deploy the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nigeria plans to vaccinate<\/a> as much as 40% of its 200 million population against the coronavirus in 2021, but Ihekweazu thinks that even the 20% goal set by COVAX might not be realistic.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201c20% in Nigeria is 40 million people so think about it logistically, how long would it take to immunize 40 million people?\u201d she explained.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe road network in Nigeria is not the best. Our health facilities are very fragmented,\u201d she said, noting that spreading the vaccine over two doses adds additional complications. \u201cThe second dose then is an additional logistical exercise.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Storage is also a problem. The Pfizer vaccine which the country is expecting first has strict storage directions<\/a> and must be kept at a temperature of -70 degrees.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Moderna and AstraZeneca offer the option of slightly warmer temperatures, the former has to be stored at about -20 degrees and the latter between -2 and -8 degrees.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While Dr. Shuaib said Nigeria has acquired three ultra-cold freezers to store the Pfizer vaccine expected next month, he added that the government plans on getting coronavirus vaccines that are easier to store in the long run.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Electricity to power these freezers remains a concern as well. Nigeria has an installed power generating strength of 12,522.0 MW, but only 1,864 MW is distributed to Nigerians and over 95 million<\/a> live without electricity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Two weeks ago, health authorities in Nigeria warned against<\/a> the circulation of fake coronavirus vaccines which they said were already in the country. Black market Covid-19 tests flourished last year<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It remains to be seen how Nigeria will navigate its coronavirus vaccine hindrances, but one thing is certain for Seyi and it is that she won\u2019t be taking it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI think science needs to start treating everyone\u2019s body individually a bit more, than this generic thing they do and group all of us together. All of us can\u2019t be the same,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

*Seyi’s name has been changed to protect her identity.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Caleb Okereke Lagos, Nigeria \u2013 Nigeria expects its first 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in February, according to Dr. Faisal Shuaib, head of the country\u2019s National Primary Health Care Development Agency. Yet one of the last times Pfizer embarked on a mass administration of its drugs in Nigeria, it killed 11 children with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,65],"tags":[85],"class_list":{"0":"post-5984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-societe","8":"category-west-africa","9":"tag-covid-19"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6623,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions\/6623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}