A seasoned Journalist, Publisher and Editor of The Nigerian Post Newspaper, Mr. Michael Abu,
today on Grace 95.5 FM Radio dispelled the rumour making the rounds that the COVID vaccines will make you sick with COVID-19.
Mr. Abu made the disclosure while speaking on the topic: Handling Rumours on Covid-19 vaccines in Kogi State part 2, A CPI/CITAD Weekly Live Talk Show on Enhancing Demand Creation And Uptake of Covid 19 Vaccine in Kogi State said the new COVID-19 vaccines will not make you sick with COVID-19.
He said the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty® and Moderna Spikevax® vaccines are not made of the live virus that causes COVID-19, instead it is made up of messenger RNA (mRNA).
The goal of the vaccine he said is to teach your body to recognize and fight the virus by giving the instructions (mRNA) to make a harmless protein of the virus.
After the protein is made, he said the cells breaks down the instructions (mRNA) and gets rid of them, making your immune system to recognize the protein since it doesn’t typically belong there.
This he said triggers your body to make antibodies, which will protect you from being infected with the real COVID-19 virus if it were to enter your body in the future.
The Journalists further further described as untrue the rumour that the vaccines were rushed and there hasn’t been enough testing.
He maintained that vaccine development is usually a long process and can take several years. However, the first 2 COVID-19 vaccines he highlighted were developed and approved for use in a matter of 8 months. This rapid timeline he said was made possible due to the large amount of funding, time and effort spent on research, pointing out that Scientists had been studying other coronaviruses for many years which sped up the process.
He said the new vaccines went through different stages before being approved: preclinical trials and clinical trials (phases I, II and III).
He stressed that the COVID-19 vaccines underwent the same rigorous testing as any other vaccine, but were fast-tracked by completing many stages at the same time. This means that all the usual safety checks were performed and completed simultaneously, rather than separately, saving a lot of time.
Furthermore, widespread efforts from governments and other group’s following the outbreak of the pandemic he said contributed significantly to their development.
On the rumour that the vaccines will make women sterile; the vaccines are too new; the shots have a microchip in them; the vaccine itself will give people COVID; I’m immune because I had COVID; and that breakthrough cases have proven that the vaccines are useless, added that the COVID vaccines “Vaccine developers didn’t skip any testing steps, but conducted some of the steps on an overlapping schedule to gather data faster.”
He added that 99.5 percent of all deaths from COVID-19 are in the unvaccinated, said COVID vaccines have been proven to be very powerful in preventing more severe disease and the need for hospitalization.
“After people recover from infection with a virus, the immune system retains a memory of it,”
On the myth that Children do not need to be vaccinated because they do not become sick from COVID-19.
He said “Hundreds of children in Indonesia have died from the coronavirus in recent weeks, many of them under age 5.” A five-year old boy in the state of Georgia died of coronavirus in July, saying that Children have much milder symptoms and are less likely to be hospitalized. But since children can become infected and transmit the virus, they can serve as an ongoing source of transmission. Everything seems to be changing with the Delta variant. It leads to a much higher viral load. And that includes children”.
On the myth that, ” I’m vaccinated. So I can drop all my COVID precautions”, said studies have shown that a person infected with the Delta variant of COVID has roughly 1,000 times more copies of the virus in their respiratory tracts than a person infected with the original strain”.
Mr. Abu described the vaccines as free, safe, and remarkably effective, dispelled the rumour that the COVID vaccine actually gives you COVID.
He said ” it is not medically possible. The vaccine does not contain the virus, added that there is no microchip in the vaccine.
He appealed to citizens to visit the nearest PHC nearest to them to get vaccinated, said it is free, safe and effective.
He paid glowing tributes to the Kogi State Primary Development Agency for deployment of the vaccines, men and manpower across the state, mentioned locations in each LGAs of the state were people can access the vaccines.
He appealed to citizens to be patient pointing out that the challenge of logistics in the process of vaccination would be addressed as the exercise continues… Continue reading