New Telegraph

GMD, NARD, NIMR TO FG: Procure COVID-19 vaccines that can be easily preserved

…Nigeria’s poor electricity, major challenge to storage

With the development of vaccines and its ongoing administration in certain parts of the world, the hope is that the COVID-19 pandemic would be decisively contained in a short period of time.

This expectation, according to some medical experts, might not materialise in Nigeria given its likely incapacity to properly preserve the vaccines. But, the Guild of Medical Directors (GMD), Prof. Olufemi Babalola, has said that there are options as the Federal Government could purchase the AstraZeneca vaccine, which could be stored in lower temperatures. Babalola gave the advice while analysing the compatibility of the available COVID- 19 vaccines to Nigeria’s peculiar ability to store them without affecting its effectiveness.

However, the President of Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, has hinted that the Federal Government was working out the strategy to actualise the effective preservation of the vaccine. Uyilawa, who is undergoing his residency as an orthopaedic surgeon at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, said part of what the government is doing is also trying to work out how the vaccine shall be preserved.

And just like Babalola, the Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Prof. Salako Babatunde, is also of the view that the government should go for the AstraZeneca vaccine that the country can store in the normal freezer temp of about -18 degrees C. whenever it is ready for it.

Babalola, who noted the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the virus is lower compared to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, said Nigeria’s epileptic power supply is a big disadvantage as the vaccines must be stored at -75 degrees Celsius or more and a break in chain of just 90 seconds would affect its effectiveness.

He said: “The Pfizer vaccine is the one you have to store at -80 degrees Celsius, the Moderna you can store it in -10 degrees Celsius and the AstraZeneca vaccine you can store at normal fridge temperature, that is -3 degrees Celsius.

“Although the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine is lower than the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine, in practical terms I believe that is the one we can handle in Nigeria because our normal fridge is the kind of temperature in which the AstraZeneca vaccine is supposed to be stored “We can probably handle that with enough additional measures but for us to say or think that we can handle the one that is supposed to be stored at -68 degree Celsius or more, we are just deceiving ourselves. “It is better for us to go for the AstraZeneca vaccine which can be stored at a lower temperature than the higher temperatures for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.”

But, Uyilawa noted that considering Nigeria’s poor electricity supply, it would be almost impossible to achieve the vaccine storage. He said: “I was with the Minister of Health and I am aware the Federal Government is trying to acquire the vaccine’s proper preservation.

“I know the Federal Government is doing all it can in its own small way trying to find the means of effective vaccine preservation when it finally acquires it just to ensure its preservation.” For Prof. Babatunde, since Nigeria knows her limitations in this regard, it won’t be okay going for the one that could give her problems. “Yes, we have options when that time comes,” he said.

Meanwhile, the HOD,Veterinary Medicine at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Prof. Maduike Ezeibe, took a different path, saying that what the world needs is not a vaccine but a medicine that has a broader spectrum of activities. Ezeibe said that the available information shows that some people who recovered from COVID-19 have already come down a second time within a year. That, according to him, suggests immunity from the virus does not last long enough.

Yet for vaccines (virus weakened so that it does not cause disease) to be effective, they should provide immunity either for life like in measles or at least for 10 years like in the case of yellow fever.

“What are vaccines being developed for COVID-19 meant to be used for? If they are intended for short term protection to enable eradication of the virus, it means everybody in the world should be vaccinated within a short interval (1 to 2 months). “This appears impossible. The alternative is to use the vaccines for prevention (as in yellow fever). “Then what is COVID-19? It is nothing but a flu like other flus.

The difference is that the virus is a novel (new) strain that is not susceptible to available flu medicines. “Every Coronavirus (RNA viruses) has positive electrical charges while abnormal cells (including virus infected cells) are negatively charged.

“All these information are already in literature. We (Nigerians) have already postulated that opposite chargeselectrostatic attraction could be adopted as a mechanism for treatment of viral diseases.

“We have also invented The medicinal synthetic Aluminum- magnesium silicate (MSAMS). The MSAMS has both positively charged ends and negatively charged ends. “It uses the positive ends to destroy infected cells and uses the negative ends to mop COVID-19 virus and other positively charged disease agents,” he said. Another medical expert, Dr. Ade Oderinde, had expressed fears that the expectation of the vaccines containing the spread of the virus might be a herculean task given Nigeria’s peculiar electricity issue.

He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if despite vaccine administration in Nigeria, new cases would continue unabated. “There are conditions in our environment that would reduce its efficacy. The first is cold chain breakage.

“Now, the implication is that there must not be a power outage. If there is, a standby automatic generator should be in place. “However, if a generator is provided for, how sure are we that the technicians would not ration fuel to be resold? These are some of the issues we need to deal with.

“Also, it’s an irony that vaccine administration outcomes in the country will be faith-based and not sciencebased because you still have to pray hard for its efficacy because the ambient environment does not seem to favour a good outcome.”

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