There is a scientific and medical consensus about the coronavirus. It will not be defeated in any country without mass vaccinations. True, adhering to safety protocols and having an effective test, trace, isolate and cure system are powerful weapons against the pandemic, but it’s universally accepted that, ultimately, only mass vaccinations will keep COVID-19 at bay. Sadly, in Nigeria, none of these protective measures is in place or effective.
First, take adherence to safety protocols. Well, thanks to widespread public apathy, public safety protocols, such as using face-covering and social distancing, have collapsed in Nigeria. They are more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Then, second, take the test, trace, isolate and cure system. It is non-existent or utterly ineffective in Nigeria.
According to Reuters COVID-19 Trackers, as of April 16 last week, Nigeria had 164,000 infections and 2,061 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began. But one must take these figures with a pinch of salt because you can’t know the number of infections without an effective test and trace system, which doesn’t exist in Nigeria. And if the number of deaths is derived from hospitalisations, what about the countless ordinary Nigerians who probably died from COVID-19 complications without hospitalisations?
Truth is, the absence of an effective test and trace system has led to dubious figures that suggest that COVID-19 infections and deaths are low in Nigeria and that they are even decreasing when these might not be so. Sadly, such misinformation lulls Nigerians into a false sense of protection; several deaths would probably have been prevented with an effective test, trace, isolate and cure system.
But, as I said earlier, while adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols and a test, trace, isolate and cure system are powerful weapons in the war against COVID-19, the pandemic can only be defeated with effective vaccines. Which was why the development of different vaccines was hailed around the world because effective vaccines would prevent people from catching COVID-19 and, for those who catch it, would significantly reduce hospitalisations and deaths. Even as COVID-19 mutates, with new variants, vaccines are still the answer!
Unfortunately, as I wrote in this column in February, the original excitement about the development of COVID-19 vaccines was dampened by vaccine nationalism and protectionism, whereby the developed countries secured and hoarded more vaccines than they needed. Some, including major developing countries like India, have continued to ban exports of vaccines in order to ensure they could meet domestic demands. These practices have, of course, led to inequitable access to vaccines and have left most developing countries, particularly African countries, scrambling for “leftover” vaccines!
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) recently condemned what she called “the glaring inequity” in COVID-19 vaccine allocation. Speaking before a meeting in Geneva to discuss access to COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Okonjo-Iweala said: “The vaccine inequity is glaring”, adding: “I’m a pragmatic person and what hurts me now is that people are dying from not having access to vaccines.”
While adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols and a test, trace, isolate and cure system are powerful weapons in the war against COVID-19, the pandemic can only be defeated with effective vaccines
The April 14 meeting was intended to look for solutions, such as firing up idle or under-used manufacturing plants in Africa and Asia and granting a waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines so that poor counties could produce them. There were also pleas to stop vaccine export restrictions.
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But these proposals might not come to fruition because the commercial world is shaped by self-interest, not altruism. Pharmaceutical companies and vaccine manufacturers would not readily take decisions that undermine their commercial interests, including waiving their intellectually property rights in COVID-19 vaccines.
Several years ago, at the height of the HIV-AIDS pandemic, the large pharmaceutical companies strongly rejected any attempts by developing countries, including South Africa, where the disease was raging, to import or produce generic antiretroviral drugs to tackle the disease. It took intense political and civil society pressures before WTO rules were relaxed in 2005 to allow countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities to import cheap generic drugs, and before a temporary waiver was granted, in 2015, to exempt least-developed countries from implementing provisions of the WTO Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement related to pharmaceutical products. So, COVID-19 vaccine inequity is a product of a structurally unfair world in which Africa is left behind.
Yet, none of this can excuse Nigeria’s abysmal failure to prioritise the purchase and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, to give any urgency to vaccinating its citizens. Leaving aside the fact that Nigeria cannot develop and manufacture any COVID-19 vaccine that meets international standards, it’s deeply embarrassing that, as Africa’s largest economy and the world’s 27th, it cannot make independent arrangements to buy its own vaccines and had to rely solely on complex, yet uncertain, collective arrangements with the African Union and the COVAX Facility, under the auspices of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.
Of course, the African Union and COVAX initiatives are commendable, and Nigeria should be part of them. But, with a population of over 200m people, and given the need for mass vaccination, Nigeria cannot rely on haphazard arrangements for the vaccination of its citizens. Yet, everything one hears about the availability of COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria hinges on vague promises of millions of vaccine doses from the African Union or COVAX at future dates.
For instance, Nigeria is said to have been allocated about 16m doses from the COVAX Facility, aimed to vaccinate 20% of its population; yet only a tiny fraction of this has been delivered. Another report said Nigeria was expecting 42m doses through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. Yet, another said Nigeria would receive up to 70m does of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines from the African Union. But these are all pies in the sky. There is no guarantee of any forthcoming supplies and Nigeria is making no independent effort to purchase vaccines to protect its citizens.
But let’s leave aside the pies in the sky, what about the doses Nigeria has already received? How is the government rolling them out? On March 2, Nigeria received 3.94m of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine under the COVAX Facility. Edward Kallon, UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, said: “This is a landmark moment for Nigeria.” Dr Walter Mulombo, WHO Representative in Nigeria, said: “This is an epoch-making event.”
Yet, despite those superlative words, only 1,051,096 doses were administered, as at last week, which, given everyone needs 2 doses of the vaccine, covers only 0.3% of the population. According to Reuters, with the average doses of 13,782 that Nigeria administered daily last week, it would take a further 2,917 days, an eternity, to administer doses for 10% of the population. So, where is the urgency?
Recently, India stopped the exports of doses made by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to deal with domestic demand, thus halting the delivery of vaccines due under the COVAX Facility. In response, the minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, told state governments to stop giving first doses of AstraZeneca after reaching half of their allocated doses. The idea is that, because two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are required to be effective, those who have received the first doses should get the second to be fully vaccinated. That makes sense, but it also means that, with 4m doses, only about 1% of Nigerians would be vaccinated! Unbelievable!
President Buhari said on March 6 that he received his COVID-19 vaccination publicly to “demonstrate leadership.” Well, he’s shown no leadership on the coronavirus. For real leadership, look at how President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have taken personal responsibility for the supply and rollout of vaccines in their countries, ensuring millions are vaccinated daily!
In contrast, Nigerian leaders vaccinated themselves but leaves the citizens unprotected against the pandemic. That’s utter failure of leadership and governance!
